Chapter 7: Coping, Well-being, and COVID-19

This chapter examines which coping mechanisms citizens used during the pandemic and how these mechanisms related to overall well-being. Using the Transaction Theory of Stress and Coping to frame the analysis, the chapter investigates predictive factors for various coping strategies and identifies which groups were more likely to use adaptive as opposed to maladaptive strategies. I examine how coping strategies used in April 2020 predict change in well-being, measured by life satisfaction, in November 2020. Americans reported greater use of maladaptive coping and less use of the adaptive coping strategies compared to their Finnish counterparts. Americans reported more frequent use of religious coping strategies. Interestingly, worrying about COVID-19 did not increase the use of maladaptive coping for Finns or Americans. Regarding the effect of the coping strategies on life satisfaction, the analyses revealed that those who reported using maladaptive strategies in April 2020 showed a significant decrease in life satisfaction in November 2020. However, this finding was only significant for Finnish residents. Unexpectedly, Finnish and US residents who reported using Active/Expressive and Planning coping reported a decrease in life satisfaction from April to November 2020. Finally, Finnish and US residents who were married, had higher self-esteem, or had higher social capital were more likely to report an increase in life satisfaction from April 2020 to November 2020. These findings raise questions for future research. The context of the pandemic may have created a unique situation that rendered coping mechanisms to behave in unusual ways.