Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test the validity of the proposed coping model which takes social interaction into account. The proposed model postulates that the effect of coping behavior on mental health is mediated by one's interpersonal relationships. In Study 1, we investigated the effect of coping behavior on the others with a sample of 129 undergraduate students. The results demonstrated that one's coping behavior made the others feel varying degrees of pleasantness-unpleasantness. In Study 2, 299 college students completed the Interpersonal Stress-Coping Inventory, the Social Support Scale, and the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. The results of path analysis suggested that interpersonal stresscoping directly affected the availability of social support, which in turn influenced loneliness of the coping individual. More specifically, pleasant social coping behavior increases social support and decreases loneliness, whereas unpleasant social coping behavior reduces social support and increases loneliness.
