Abstract

Despite evidence supporting epistemic style as an influential personality factor in a variety of behaviors, the relevance of epistemic style in coping behavior has yet to be explored. Using Royce's model of epistemic style and Lazarus' relational model of coping , the purpose of this study was to investigate differences in coping behavior based on epistemic style. Participants were 90 first-year undergraduate students residing in three freshman residence halls of a mid-sized, state university located in the Mid-Western U.S. Coping behavior was assessed using the Ways of Coping Questionnaire and epistemic style was assessed using the Psycho-Epistemological Profile . Based on dominant epistemic style, mean coping scores were compared using a multivariate analysis of variance . The MANOVA was not statistically significant. The author offers several explanations for the findings as well as recommendations for future studies