Coping Styles and Psychological Distress among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between coping styles and psychological distress in a nonclinical sample of 832 Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. Measures included the General Health Questionnaire and an Adolescent Coping Scale adapted from both Western and Eastern sources. Results from factor analyses suggested that adolescents used relatively similar coping strategies when confronted with problems. Thus four broad coping styles were identified. The coping style of avoidancelblaming was consistently found to be a significant and moderately strong predictor of psychological distress in four different problem areas relating to academic difficulties, conflicts with elders, conflicts with friends, andfuture concerns. A lthough males and females used similar coping styles when confronted with difficulties, they differed in the frequency with which they might use a particular coping style when dealing with a particular problem. Limitations of the study and implications for future research in adolescent coping are also discussed