anticipatory coping
a stress-management strategy in which one seeks to avoid or minimize problems associated with a critical event occurring in the near future that involves potential risk. Examples of such events include a scheduled public speech, a job interview, an exam, or a promotion. Anticipatory coping thus can be understood as the management of known risks, involving efforts to solve the actual problems (e.g., by increasing effort, by enlisting help, by investing other resources) or to feel good in spite of the risks (e.g., by redefining the situation as less threatening, by distraction, by gaining reassurance from others). It is assumed to increase with middle and old age and is one of four types of coping proposed by German psychologists Ralf Schwarzer (1943– ) and Nina Knoll, the others being preventive coping, proactive coping, and reactive coping.