title: Goal striving and maladaptive coping in adults living with spinal cord injury: associations with affective well-being.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current study examined how goal engagement and two coping strategies (self-blame and denial) hypothesized to prevent successful disengagement relate to affective well-being among adults with a functional disability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-nine community-dwelling adults (23 to 76 years old, 66 men) with spinal cord injury participated in structured interviews assessing affective well-being using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988); goal engagement using a modified version of the Optimization, Primary, and Secondary Control Scale (Heckhausen, Schulz, & Wrosch, 1998); and self-blame and denial using items from Carver's (1997) Brief COPE Inventory.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Greater goal engagement was significantly associated with positive but not negative affect. Greater use of self-blame and denial coping was associated with lower positive affect for older adults and higher negative affect across the age range.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mackay
authors.forename: Susan T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: Jutta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heckhausen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D055815:Young Adult