The relationship between emotional impairment and coping styles

Emotional impairment refers to difficulties in emotional self regulation or inability in cognitive processing of emotional data necessary for regulating emotions. This construct is also defined as a way of coping with affective helplessness related to special stresssful situations. The relationship betwenn such impairments and the coping styles, based on data collected from a sample of Tehran University students (156 males and 190 females), is examined here. The instruments used were Toronto Emotional Impairement Scale and Tehran Coping Styles Scale. Results show a significant relationship between the extent of emotional impairment and the coping style. It seems that the coping style used depends on the individual's ability/inability in processing emotional data, regulating and managing emotions, and regulating levels of emotional tranquility or distress.