Turtles use external strategies primarily in low stress situations. Otherwise tend to use denail, resignation, rumination. Racehorses use external strategies primarily in moderate or high stress situations. Otherwise tend to use emotions. As health status deteriorates, or if social support is too little or too much, internal coping strategies become common.
Effective coping can be external or internal, but has to be appropriate to the situation.
Ineffective coping the same. Falvo talks of chronic illness or disability requires a number of changes that cause stress by potentially threatening the individual's accustomed role and level of functioning. This includes the evaluation of alternate coping strategies with respect to their cost and probability of success. They include the person's previous experiences with similar situations, generalized expectations about self and environment, and the availability of resources. For diabetic women, stressful life events and palliative coping strategies were associated with less psychosocial adaptation.