Associations of Temperament and Character with Coping Strategies among Office Workers

Objective: Coping can be defined as the reactions to harm or distress individuals take to reduce stress. This study aimed to determine how an individual’s temperament and character is correlated with the person’s main coping method. Methods: The Korean version of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire and Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised-Short Version were used to evaluate the coping strategies and temperament and character of 1,035 people. Four hierarchical linear regression analyses with the scores of each coping strategy subscale as a dependent variable were performed. Results: High persistence, cooperativeness, self-transcendence, and low harm avoidance were associated with using a problem-focused coping strategy. Being female, high novelty seeking, reward dependence, and self-transcendence were associated with using a support-seeking coping strategy. High novelty seeking, self-transcendence, and low self-directedness were associated with using emotion-focused coping strategy. Being female, high novelty seeking, persistence, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence were associated with using a hopeful-thinking coping strategy. Conclusion: Our results show that there may be specific personality features guiding what kind of coping strategy an individual might use in a given situation.