Personal, Situational, and Contextual Correlates of Coping in Adolescence

Abstract

In this study, we used cross-sectional and longitudinal data to examine the personal, situational, and contextual correlates of coping in a sample of 315 adolescents. Participants completed questionnaires at two points in time (1 year apart) that assessed approach and avoidance coping in response to the mast important focal stressor experienced in the previous year. We also assessed temperament, perceived characteristics of the focal stressor, chronic stressors, ongoing resources, and negative life events. The extent to which particular coping responses were used depended on age and sex, temperament, characteristics of the problem being managed, and conditions of adolescents' social ecology. Moreover, approach- and avoidance-coping efforts were associated with different sets of personal, situational, and contextual factors. Youth who used more approach-coping responses were older, were more active, appraised the focal stressor as controllable and as a challenge, and had more ongoing social resources. Youth who used more avoidance coping were easily distressed, had more chronic stressors, and experienced more negative life events in the previous year. For both types of coping, previous use of each type was an important predictor of later coping. Variations in the prediction of specific dimensions of coping within the broader conceptual domains of approach and avoidance coping point to the utility of retaining narrow-band distinctions between coping responses.