Examining Irrational Happiness Beliefs within an Adaptation-Continuum Model of Personality and Coping

The integration of dispositional characteristics of personality and coping as part of an adaptation-continuum model of personality and coping has become a focal point in recent studies. The model has been used to provide a context in which to understand the factors related to human health and well-being. The present study sought to investigate the position of irrational happiness beliefs within the adaptation continuum model by integrating Gray’s model of personality and Ferguson’s model of coping strategies. A total of 166 adults (mean age = 39.48, SD = 11.32), recruited from the United States, participated in the study. All the participants completed measures of irrational happiness beliefs, personality traits, and functional dimensional coping. The results showed that approach, emotional regulation and reappraisal copings and BAS personality loaded together to form the BAS-Coping factor, while avoidance coping and BIS personality loaded together to constitute the BIS-Coping factor. The results also showed that irrational happiness beliefs significantly correlated with BAS-Coping. This suggests that the combination of personality and coping is a useful context for both researchers and practitioners in understanding irrational happiness beliefs as part of an adaptation-continuum model of personality and coping.