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Personality Traits linked to General Health
To determine the number of reproducible dimensions inherent in the COPE instrument, our Neural
Network analysis used independent learning and verification samples. We found 2 highly stable and
reproducible scales (personality traits) that explained the observed inter-individual variation
in coping behavior sufficiently well (68.6%) and in a socio-culturally independent way.
The new COPE scales included 17 and 11 items, respectively, and reflected basic coping behavior
in terms of "activity" (activity-passivity) and "defeatism" (defeatism-resilience).
Activity versus Defeatism
Activity is best described through items like "turning to work", "getting help and advice from
other people", or "coming up with a strategy". Defeatism is characterized by behavior like
"giving up", "using alcohol", or "refusing to believe that this has happened". "Passivity" is
understood as negative scoring on the activity scale and "resilience" as negative scoring on the
defeatism scale. The term "resilience" encompasses all those endogenous mechanisms that support
and maintain health, thereby enabling subjects to cope with stressful situations.
External Validation
The factors "alcohol consumption", "regular use of medicine", "illegal drugs", "impaired physical
health", "psychosomatic disturbances", "impaired mental health", and "regular exercises", were
used to estimate the extent to which the new scales are inter-related with consumption behavior
and health problems. Our analyses underlined the close relationship between insufficient coping
behavior and general health: The higher a person's defeatism score the higher the impairment
regarding physical and mental health, combined with the
consumption of illegal drugs and a significant lack of physical activity.
References
Stassen HH, Bachmann S, Bridler R, Cattapan K, Herzig D, Schneeberger A, Seifritz E:
Detailing the Effects of Polypharmacy in Psychiatry: Longitudinal Study of 320 Patients
Hospitalized for Depression or Schizophrenia. Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2022; 272(4): 603-619
[ get the article]
Moragrega I, Bridler R, Mohr C, Possenti M, Rochat D, Sanchez Parramon J, Stassen HH:
Monitoring Mental Health and the Effects of Therapeutic Interventions through Self-Assessment
Voice Analyses. Res Psychother. 2021, 24(3): 250-262
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Zhang M, Bridler R, Mohr C, Moragrega I, Sun N, Xu Z, Yang Z, Possenti M, Stassen HH:
Early Detection of the Risk of Developing Psychiatric Disorders: A Study of 461 Chinese
University Students under Chronic Stress. Psychopathology 2019; 52(6): 367-377
Delfino JP, Barragán E, Botella C, Braun S, Bridler R, Camussi E, Chafrat V, Lott P, Mohr C,
Moragrega I, Papagno C, Sanchez S, Seifritz E, Soler C, Stassen HH: Quantifying Insufficient
Coping Behavior under Chronic Stress. A cross-cultural study of 1,303 students from Italy,
Spain, and Argentina. Psychopathology 2015; 48: 230-239
Mohr C, Braun S, Bridler R, Chmetz F, Delfino JP, Kluckner VJ, Lott P, Schrag Y, Seifritz E,
Stassen HH: Insufficient Coping Behavior under Chronic Stress and Vulnerability to Psychiatric
Disorders. Psychopathology 2014; 47: 235-243
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Neural Network approaches connect the "neurons" of input and output layers via
one or more "hidden" layers in such a way that the final model optimally predicts coping
behavior scores from the subjects' item scores.
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