Proposes individuals actively prepare for future challenges before their materialization, instead of just reacting to them. Thus, projecting one into the future, three coping types are possible: proactive, preventive, and preventive. Individuals are subject to a dual process of scanning future horizons: potential stressors alongside simultaneous building resources (skills, knowledge, experience). Resource availability is crucial to coping capacity, so that feedback loops are enhances for future preparedness.
Important branch from Cognitive-transactional stress theory.
Formalized by Ralf Schwarzer and colleagues in 2002.