Personal Growth Initiative: Relation to Coping Styles, Strategies, and Self-Efficacy

Personal growth initiative (PGI) refers to active and intentional participation in the growth process. PGI includes behavioral and cognitive skills and attitudes that are captured by four factors: Readiness for Change, Planfulness, Using Resources, and Intentional Behavior. There is substantial evidence supporting the positive relations between PGI and various domains of well-being. However, a lack of nuance regarding how the four facets of PGI differentially relate to other aspects of optimal functioning, such as coping, persists. Additionally, PGI has been theoretically tied to coping, but there is limited empirical evidence substantiating this link. Thus, the current study examined the relations between PGI and coping styles, strategies, and self-efficacy in a sample of 789 college students through a series of three canonical correlations. The findings indicated different combinations of the four aspects of PGI related significantly to 13 coping styles, three coping strategies, and three forms of coping self-efficacy. These findings have implications for both the theory and operationalization of PGI, such as the viability of the four separate aspects of PGI, as well as for the application of PGI and coping in college settings, including the development of trainings to increase PGI and adaptive aspects of coping.