Emotional health within the scope of perceived competence

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between perceived competence (Wallston, 1992), coping processes, and emotional symptoms in a healthy sample. The objectives for this research were the following ones: (1) to confirm that perceived competence fosters a problem-focused coping, and reduces the emotionfocused coping and the self-reported symptoms; and (2) to establish whether the connection between perceived competence and emotional symptoms is direct or if it is mediated by coping. The sample was composed by 173 subjects, aged 17 to 67 years old and an average age of 33. The regression analyses demonstrated that perceived competence positively predicted taskfocused coping, and negatively predicted emotion-focused one as well as self-reported symptoms. Furthermore, when coping was introduced into the regression equation, only emotionfocused coping partially mediated the relationship between perceived competence and the symptoms. Neither task coping nor avoidance coping were predictors of the self-reported symptoms. We conclude that perceived competence beliefs constitute an important psychological resource as they promote an efficacious way of facing the problems and, thus, they reduce the negative consequences of stress.