Abstract
Using cluster analytical procedure, this study aimed (i) todetermine whether people could be differentiated on the basisof coping profiles (or unique combinations of coping strategies);and (ii) to examine the relationships between theseprofiles and perceived stress and health-related behaviors.A sample of 578 French students (345 females, 233 males;Mage= 21.78, SDage= 2.21) completed the Perceived StressScale-14 (Bruchon-Schweitzer, 2002), the Brief COPE(Muller and Spitz, 2003) and a series of items measuringhealth-related behaviors. A two-phased cluster analytic procedure(i.e. hierarchical and non-hierarchical-k-means) wasemployed to derive clusters of coping strategy profiles. Theresults yielded four distinctive coping profiles: High Copers,Adaptive Copers, Avoidant Copers and Low Copers. Theresults showed that clusters differed significantly in perceivedstress and health-related behaviors. High Copers andAvoidant Copers displayed higher levels of perceived stressand engaged more in unhealthy behavior, compared withAdaptive Copers and Low Copers who reported lower levelsof stress and engaged more in healthy behaviors. Thesefindings suggested that individuals’ relative reliance on somestrategies and de-emphasis on others may be a more advantageousway of understanding the manner in which individualscope with stress. Therefore, cluster analysis approach mayprovide an advantage over more traditional statistical techniquesby identifying distinct coping profiles that might bestbenefit from interventions. Future research should considercoping profiles to provide a deeper understanding of the relationshipsbetween coping strategies and health outcomes andto identify risk groups.