Workplace Stress and Sleep Quality: The Differential Moderating Effects of Problem- and Emotion-focused Coping

Research on coping has provided consistent evidence that emotion-focused coping strategies tend to have negative ramifications for well-being, whereas problem-focused coping strategies tend to promote well-being. However, there is little research that examines how these two types of coping strategies impact stressor-sleep quality relationships. Therefore, the current thesis included two studies that utilized Lazarus and Folkman\u27s (1984) conceptualization of coping as either problem-focused or emotion-focused to test the impact of those coping strategies on stressor-sleep quality relationships. The first study was cross-sectional and investigated the effect of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping on the relationship between workload and sleep quality, and the effect of emotion-focused coping on the relationship between incivility and sleep quality. Results suggested that emotion-focused coping exacerbates stressor-sleep quality relationships. The second study built upon the first study by using a daily experience sampling method design to further investigate the effects of coping on the relationship between work stress and sleep quality. In this study, sleep quality was measured subjectively with self-report measures and objectively with the use of actigraphy. Findings suggested that problem-focused coping moderated the relationship between workload and objective sleep quality, but not as expected. Together, findings across both studies suggest that emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping may differentially moderate the relationship between work stress and sleep quality. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed