PERSONALITY TYPES, COPING STRATEGIES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT IN INDIVIDUALS WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS

Abstract

For each individual, making adjustment to their environment is a critical matter and therefore psychological adjustment and its contributing factors become pertinent to study. The current study is aimed to explore the role of Personality Types (Introversion, Extraversion, Sensing, Intuition, Thinking, Feeling, Judging, and Perceiving) and Coping Strategies (Engagement Coping and Disengagement Coping) in predicting Psychological Adjustment (through Resilience and Self-efficacy). The sample consisted of 153 individuals (Distressed=70 and Non-distressed=83). It was hypothesized that there would be a predictive relationship between personality types and psychological adjustment. It was also hypothesized that coping strategies would have a predictive relationship with psychological adjustment. Moreover, it was also hypothesized that there would be a significant difference between distressed and non-distressed individuals in Personality Types as well as Coping Strategies. Convenience sampling was employed. The data was collected with the help of self-report measures. Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) was utilized to identify the level of distress among the participants. Personal Styles Inventory (PSI) was used to evaluate Personality Types, Coping Strategies Inventory – Short Form (CSI-SF) was used to identify Coping Strategies, General Self efficacy Scale (GSES), and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) were used to measure Psychological Adjustment of the participants. The results showed that Introversion, Thinking, and Feeling are significant predictors of Psychological Adjustment, whereas, Extroversion, Sensing, Intuition, Judging and Perceiving are insignificant predictors of Psychological Adjustment. Engagement Coping and Disengagement Coping were revealed as significant predictors of Psychological VII Adjustment. No significant difference was revealed between distressed and non-distressed individuals in Personality Types (Introversion, Extroversion, Sensing, Intuition, Thinking, Feeling, Judging, and Perceiving). Furthermore, there was a significant difference in coping strategies used by distressed and non-distressed individuals. The distressed population predominantly used Disengagement Coping whereas the non-distressed population predominantly used Engagement Coping. The findings of the study reveal that therapists should encourage their clients to use Engagement Coping more and discourage the use of Disengagement Coping in order to enhance Psychological Adjustment. Keywords: Personality Types, Coping Strategies, Psychological Adjustment, Resilience, Self-efficacy, Psychological Distress