There are many challenges to be faced in contemporary society including the stresses of everyday living in the technological age and changes in patterns of employment and family life. Depression is being experienced in "epidemic" proportions in many Western communities, and in particular amongst young people. The search for effective ways to reverse this trend has resulted in a significant shift in psychological approach from a focus on helplessness and pathology to a more positive orientation that emphasises health and well-being. This volume brings together leading researchers in the field of stress and coping to consider ways in which coping research contributes to our understanding of how people in different sectors of life meet goals and challenges. It provides a synthesis of different but compatible theoretical models that have been developed in the field of stress and coping and provides a way forward beyond the traditional stress and coping paradigms The emergent model is able to be used to assess a wide range of issues in the stress and coping domain.Written to be accessible to students and researchers in social, educational, and health psychology, this will be a valuable and important addition to the literature.