Open Access

ARTICLE

Sequential Mediating Effect of Proactive Coping and Perceived Stress in the Relationships between Self-Esteem Stability and Life Satisfaction

Seungju Hyun^*

Department of Psychology, Korea Military Academy, Seoul, 01805, Korea

* Corresponding Author: Seungju Hyun. Email:

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2022, 24(3), 425-437. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2022.018829

Received 19 August 2021; Accepted 30 November 2021; Issue published 17 March 2022

Abstract

While the effect of self-esteem stability on life satisfaction is widely verified, it is not very known how coping strategies explain this relationship. The present study focused on proactive coping, a preliminary step to minimize the impact of expected stressors, and a process of recognizing stressful events as challenges and actively managing them. Specifically, this study (N = 280) examined whether proactive coping and perceived stress mediated the relationship between self-esteem stability and life satisfaction in a sequential manner. The results indicate that proactive coping and perceived stress sequentially mediated the relationship between self-esteem stability and life satisfaction, respectively. This demonstrates that proactive coping and perceived stress are factors that link self-esteem and life satisfaction. However, there was no direct effect between self-esteem and life satisfaction. These findings suggest the need to consider combining proactive coping interventions to increase the effectiveness of a self-esteem stability promotion program. The practical implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

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Keywords

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