Which of the following coping behaviors are problem-focused?
A. Discussing your problem with a friend
B. Make a plan of action and follow it
C. Finding fault with classmates for poor marks in test
D. Reading essential books for the annual examination
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → A, B and D only
A. Discussing your problem with a friend Correct. Problem-focused strategies use behaviours designed to gain information about the problem and widen one’s coping options; talking the problem over with a friend does this.
B. Make a plan of action and follow it Correct. This is the very example of a problem-focused strategy: ‘I made a plan of action and followed it’.
C. Finding fault with classmates for poor marks in test Incorrect. Blaming others does nothing to the problem itself; the marks stay poor and nothing is learnt for the next test.
D. Reading essential books for the annual examination Correct. It attacks the problem itself by raising one’s level of knowledge for the examination.
Note: Statement A can also be read as emotion-focused coping, because talking to a friend is often a way of letting one’s feelings out (‘I did some things to let it out of my system’). NTA has probably interpreted it as a way of gaining information about the problem, which is how NCERT describes problem-focused coping. If A were left out, the answer would be B and D only, but none of the four options gives B and D alone. So A has to be counted as problem-focused, and Option (1), A, B and D only, is the answer given in the NTA answer key.
NCERT (2025-26): “Coping with Stress … Lazarus and Folkman has conceptualised coping as a dynamic process rather than an individual trait. Coping refers to constantly changing cognitive and behavioural efforts to master, reduce or tolerate the internal or external demands that are created by the stressful transaction. Coping serves to allow the individual to manage or alter a problem and regulate the emotional response to that problem. According to them coping responses can be divided into two types of responses, problem-focused and emotionfocused. Problem-focused strategies attack the problem itself, with behaviours designed to gain information, to alter the event, and to alter belief and commitments. They increase the person’s awareness, level of knowledge, and range of behavioural and cognitive coping options. They can act to reduce the threat value of the event. For example ‘I made a plan of action and followed it’. Emotion-focused strategies call for psychological changes designed primarily to limit the degree of emotional disruption caused by an event, with minimal effort to alter the event itself. For example ‘I did some things to let it out of my system…” |