Structural Model of Coping, Appraisals, and Emotions After Relationship Breakup

The relationship of coping resources and cognitive appraisals to emotions produced by the end of a romantic relationship at 2 separate times was investigated. Participants were 231 graduate students who completed inventories measuring their coping resources, cognitive appraisals, and emotional reactions. The results of the structural model suggested that preventive coping resources affected the appraised desirability of the event as well as initial emotional reactions and that combative coping resources affected subsequent emotional response. The implications of these findings for stress models of emotions and clinical interventions are discussed.