Acceptance as a coping reaction to unchangeable negative events has been discussed controversially. While some studies suggest it is adaptive, others report negative effects on mental health. We propose a distinction between two forms of acceptance reactions: active acceptance, which is associated with positive psychological outcomes, and resigning acceptance, which is associated with negative psychological outcomes. In this study, 534 individuals were surveyed with respect to several hypothetical situations. We tested the proposed acceptance model by confirmatory factor analysis, and examined the convergent and discriminant validity using personality and coping measures (Trier Personality Questionnaire, Bernese Bitterness Questionnaire, COPE). The results support the distinction between the two forms of acceptance reactions, and, in particular, that active acceptance is an adaptive reaction to unchangeable situations.

In research on coping with negative life events, a number of relevant factors have been identified in recent years. The following have been shown to influence adaptation: causal attributions (Mendola, Tennen, Affleck, McCann, & Fitzgerald, 1990; Tennen & Affleck, 1990), control beliefs (Flammer, 1990; Skinner, 1995; Taylor, 1983; Weiss, Schneewind, & Olson, 1995), search for meaning (Frankl, 1963; Taylor, 1983), and positive illusions (Fiske & Taylor, 1991; Taylor & Brown, 1988). All these factors play a role in the process of accommodative coping, i.e. coping with events that have proved to be unchangeable (Brandtstädter, Wentura, & Rothermund, 1999).

However, one possible way to deal with negative events that holds a prominent position in folk psychology has only recently begun to receive much attention. A common piece of everyday advice is that it is best to simply accept a negative event in order to get over it and continue with life. There seems to be a generally held belief that in order to cope with...