People
Professor
Ph.D., Florida State University
Office
230 Wolf Hall
(302) 831-8724
(302) 831-3645 Fax
Opening(s) available for grad students. Please contact Lawrence Cohen at lcohen@psych.udel.edu
Lawrence Cohen
Life stress and coping; Use of daily process designs
I have studied the stress and coping process for the past 25 years. Previous research has included the development and evaluation of a life events measure for adolescents (e.g., Swearingen & Cohen, 1985), examination of the role of religion and religious coping in life stress adjustment (e.g., Hettler & Cohen, 1998; Park, Cohen, & Herb, 1990), and assessment and prediction of stress-related growth (i.e., positive consequences of negative events) (e.g., Park, Cohen, & Murch, 1996; Armeli, Gunthert, & Cohen, 2001).
My recent research emphasizes the use of daily process designs and multilevel modeling to study daily stress and coping variables. For example, my students and I have evaluated the role of neuroticism (Gunthert, Cohen, & Armeli, 1999) and borderline personality features (Tolpin, Gunthert, Cohen, & O'Neill, 2004) in college students' daily stress and coping.
I recently completed an NIMH-funded project that applied a daily process design to cognitive therapy. Participants were depressed adults in cognitive therapy at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research (Bala Cynwyd, PA). The project was designed to evaluate the predictive role of pretreatment affective reactivity in therapy outcome, and cognitive therapy's effects on affective reactivity. Participants completed nightly automated telephone interviews at the beginning of therapy and again near the end of therapy. The nightly interviews included questions about daily stressors and how those stressors were evaluated, coped with, and reacted to affectively and cognitively (see Gunthert, Cohen, Butler, & Beck, 2005; Cohen et al., 2008; Parrish et al., 2009).
Most recently, I am using a daily diary methodology to study breast cancer patients and their spouses. This NCI-funded study is a collaborative project with J-P Laurenceau. We are interested in the daily experiences of breast cancer couples, how they cope and react to them, and how these experiences affect their marriage (e.g., support, intimacy) on a daily basis and over time. Specifically, breast cancer patients and their spouses are contacted soon after surgery and complete nightly electronic surveys for 10 consecutive days. They complete the nightly surveys again 6 months later.
Recent Publications
Dasch, K., Cohen, L, & Sahl, J. (2008). Moderating effects of sociotropy and autonomy on affective and self-esteem reactivity to daily stressors. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32, 177-195.
Parrish, B., Cohen, L., Gunthert, K., Butler, A., Laurenceau, J-P., & Beck, J. (2009). Effects of cognitive therapy for depression on daily stress-related variables. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 444-448.
Cohen, L., Gunthert, K., Butler, A., Parrish, P., Wenze, S., & Beck, J. (2008 ). Negative affective spillover from daily events predicts early response to cognitive therapy for depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 955-965.
O’Neill, S., Rini, C., Goldsmith, R., Valdimarsdottir, H., Cohen, L., & Schwartz, M. (in press). Distress among women receiving uninformative BRCA1/2 results: 12-Month Outcomes. Psycho-Oncology.
Sahl, J., Cohen, L., & Dasch, K. (2009). Hostility, interpersonal competence, and daily dependent stress: A daily model of stress generation. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 33, 199-210.
Butler, A., Beck, A. T., & Cohen, L. (2007). The Personality Belief Questionnaire-Short Form: Development and preliminary findings. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31, 357-370.
Gunthert, K., Cohen, L., Butler, A., & Beck, J. (2007). Depression and next-day spillover of negative mood and depressive cognitions following interpersonal stress. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31, 521-532.
Tolpin, L., Cohen, L., Gunthert, K., & Farrehi, A. (2006). Unique effects of depressive symptoms and relationship satisfaction on exposure and reactivity to daily romantic relationship stress. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25, 565-583.
Cohen, L., Gunthert, K., Butler, A., O’Neill, S., & Tolpin, L. (2005). Daily affective reactivity as a prospective predictor of depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality, 73, 1687-1713.
Gunthert, K., Cohen, L., Butler, A., & Beck, J. (2005). Predictive role of daily coping and affective reactivity in cognitive therapy outcome: Application of a daily process design to psychotherapy research. Behavior Therapy, 36, 79-90.
Representative Publications
Gunthert, K., Cohen, L., & Armeli, S. (1999). The role of neuroticism in daily stress and coping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1087-1100.
Park, C., Cohen, L., & Murch, R. (1996). Assessment and prediction of stress-related growth. Journal of Personality, 64, 71-105
Park, C., Cohen, L., & Herb, L. (1990). Intrinsic religiousness and religious coping as life stress moderators for Catholics versus Protestants. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 562-574.
Cohen, L., Burt, C., & Bjorck, J. (1987). Life stress and adjustment: Effects of life events experienced by young adolescents and their parents. Developmental Psychology, 23, 583-592.
Cohen, L. Sargent, M., & Sechrest, L. (1986). Use of psychotherapy research by professional psychologists. American Psychologist, 41, 198-206.
