Impact of Social Support and Coping on Acculturation and Acculturative Stress of East Asian International Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of social support and coping on acculturation and acculturative stress of international students. The authors used hierarchical multiple regression analysis to study a sample of 232 East Asian international students. The results indicate that social support and coping were partial mediators on the relationship between acculturation and acculturative stress. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are provided. El propósito de este estudio fue investigar los efectos del apoyo social y el afrontamiento en la aculturación y el estrés aculturativo de los estudiantes internacionales. Se estudió una muestra de 232 estudiantes internacionales de Asia Oriental usando un anaálisis de regresión múltiple jerárquica. Los resultados indican que el apoyo social y el afrontamiento fueron mediadores parciales en la relación entre aculturación y estrés aculturativo. Se proporcionan implicaciones, limitaciones y recomendaciones para investigaciones futuras.     

The development of a Peer Aggression Coping Self‐Efficacy Scale for Adolescents

This study presents findings regarding the reliability and validity of a newly developed measure designed to assess children's self‐efficacy for coping with peer aggression. The sample consisted of 2,161 participants (1,071 females and 1,090 males, who ranged in age from 10 to 15 years; 63% White, 17% Middle‐Eastern, 10% Asian, and 10% from other ethnic groups). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the four conceptualized coping self‐efficacy domains: self‐efficacy for proactive behaviour, self‐efficacy for avoiding aggressive behaviour, self‐efficacy for avoiding self‐blame, and self‐efficacy for victim‐role disengagement. Internal consistencies for the coping domains were between .87 and .90. Validity was examined by correlations between the coping self‐efficacy domains and psychological adjustment variables. Greater coping self‐efficacy was associated with less social anxiety, cognitive depression, and externalizing symptoms. The Peer Aggression Coping Self‐Efficacy Scale provides a useful measure for examining children's self‐efficacy for using a range of strategies to deal with peer aggression.     

Coping Strategies in Adolescents

Children and adolescents report that they experience stress in their lives and that they attempt to cope with that stress. Although most research on stress and coping has focused on adults, recent attention to adolescents suggests there are developmental changes in coping during adolescence and that particular coping strategies vary with gender and the type of stressors adolescents experience. This study examined coping strategies used by male and female students in early, middle, and late adolescence when they were coping with two different types of stressors: daily hassles and major life events. Older adolescents used a greater variety coping strategies and used methods that directly reduce the impact of the stressor and involved a cognitive component (e.g., planful problem solving; reappraisal) more often than younger adolescents. Adolescents in all age groups varied their strategies in relation to the type of stressor, but there were no significant gender differences. The findings suggest that significant changes during a relatively short period during adolescence may affect adaptive processes and have implications for intervention efforts aimed at reducing the negative effects of stress during this period of development.     

Culture Learning, Acculturative Stress, and Psychopathology: Three Perspectives on Acculturation

John Berry has offered a comprehensive conceptual model for the study of immigration, acculturation, and adaptation that has evolved over more than 20 years of systematic and innovative work in the field. Elaborating and refining this amalgamated framework. Professor Berry has largely demystified the acculturative process by showing that the process and product of changing cultures can be understood in familiar terms and be interpreted in the light of existing theories in mainstream psychology. These theories are referred to as "points of view" and identified as a culture learning/social skills acquisition approach, a psychological model of stress, and a psychopathology or mental disease perspective.     

Coping with COVID-19: Longitudinal Impact of the Pandemic on Adjustment and Links with Coping for Adolescents with and without ADHD

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Understanding factors that foster resilience and buffer against the negative psychological impact of COVID-19 is critical to inform efforts to...     

Active and Avoidant Coping and Coping Efficacy as Mediators of the Relation of Maternal Involvement to Depressive Symptoms among Urban Adolescents

Our study tested an extension of the social resource model in an urban sample of 129 African American and 114 European American adolescents. Maternal involvement was positively related to the use of active and avoidant coping strategies among youth of both ethnicities. Additionally, use of active coping strategies was related to greater coping efficacy, which, in turn, was associated with less depressive symptomatology. For African Americans, avoidant coping was related to greater coping efficacy, which, in turn, was associated with less depressive symptoms. For European Americans, avoidant coping was not significantly related to coping efficacy. Our findings underscore the importance of examining developmental models across ethnic/racial groups and suggest that adolescent mental health programs may benefit from culturally sensitive attention to coping beliefs and practices.     

The Impact of a Suicide Prevention Program for Adolescents on Suicidal Tendencies,Hopelessness, Ego Identity,and Coping

Three-hundred ninety-three adolescents from six schools participated in a study aimed at examining the effectiveness of an experiential suicide prevention program with regard to suicidal tendencies, hopelessness, ego identity, and coping ability. The subjects were randomly divided into experimental (n = 215) and control (n = 178) groups. The experimental groups took part in seven weekly 2-hour meetings. The program was based on the notion that a gradual, controlled confrontation and exploration of inner experiences and life difficulties related to suicidal behavior accompanied by an emphasis on coping strategies can immunize against self-destructive feelings. In this pretest-posttest design, the students completed questionnaires of suicidal tendencies, hopelessness, ego identity, and coping ability before and after the program. The statistical analyses showed that the experimental groups were superior to the controls, with at least some of the dependent measures pointing out the effectiveness of the program.     

Coping Self‐Efficacy and Psychological Distress Following the Oklahoma City Bombing1

Findings from a study of 27 victims of the Oklahoma City bombing are reported. This research focused on the importance of subjective appraisals of coping self‐efficacy in predicting psychological distress following this tragedy. Results supported the hypothesis that judgments of coping self‐eficacy taken 2 months after the bombing added significantly to the explanation of general and trauma‐related distress after controlling for income, social support, threat of death, and loss of resources. Coping self‐eficacy judgments taken I year later were also important in explaining psychological distress after controlling for loss of resources and social‐support perceptions. Although coping self‐efficacy perceptions taken at 2 months were related to distress levels 1 year later, they did not remain significant in a regression analysis controlling for loss of resources and income. Implications of these findings for post‐terrorist bombing interventions are discussed.     

Loneliness and Acculturation Among Adolescents From Immigrant Families in Portugal1

The aims of this study were to find out the degree of loneliness among adolescents with immigrant backgrounds in Portugal and the factors that may predict the level of loneliness among them. The study sample consisted of 313 adolescents. The mean duration of sojourn in Portugal for the sample was 8.2 years (SD= 4.8). They were asked to complete a questionnaire. A control group involving 363 Portuguese youth was also included in the study. There were no significant differences between adolescents from immigrant families and Portuguese adolescents who have never migrated in terms of level of loneliness. The strongest predictors of loneliness were self-esteem, duration of sojourn, and perceived discrimination. Implications of the study for counselors are suggested.     

Relationships among Proactive Coping,Posttrauma Gratitude,and Psychopathology in a Traumatized College Sample

Scant previous research has examined associations of proactive coping and psychopathology, although two preliminary findings suggest that proactive coping might be negatively associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and general depression symptom level. This study examined associations of proactive coping with PTSD and anhedonic depression in a sample of 169 traumatized undergraduates. As expected, women tended to report more severe PTSD symptoms and less life threat than men. No other gender differences were found. Most important, proactive coping and posttrauma state gratitude were independently negatively associated with PTSD symptom level, after controlling for trauma history and female gender. Further, proactive coping was independently negatively associated with anhedonic depression, beyond the effect of traumatic life threat. The implications of the findings for models of posttrauma psychopathology development are discussed.     

Life Satisfaction and Coping in Hindu Adolescents in India

This exploratory study examined the relations between approach and avoidance coping behaviors and general life satisfaction in a sample of 248 Hindu adolescents from an urban area in India. The major findings were threefold. First, gender differences were observed, with females reporting more frequent use of the strategies of seeking social support, direct problem solving, and internalizing behaviors. Second, using multiple regression analyses, the coping behaviors of problem solving and externalizing behaviors accounted for significant, unique variance in life satisfaction scores. Third, gender did not moderate the relations between any of the coping behaviors and life satisfaction. Possible implications for health promotion are discussed.     

青少年调节聚焦对心理复原力的影响：元情绪和应对方式的链式中介

研究旨在考察应对方式、元情绪在不同类型调节聚焦与心理复原力关系中的中介效应。使用简易应对方式量表、调节聚焦量表、特质性元情绪量表和心理复原力量表对随机抽取的安徽省四所初高中899名青少年进行调查。结果发现：（1）调节聚焦、应对方式和元情绪能显著预测心理复原力。（2）促进聚焦不仅能够直接正向预测心理复原力,还能够通过元情绪、积极应对以及消极应对间接预测心理复原力。（3）防御聚焦能够通过消极应对、元情绪以及积极应对间接预测心理复原力。本研究结果显示,元情绪与应对方式能够解释青少年调节聚焦与心理复原力关系的内在机制。     

Coping Self-Efficacy as a Mediator of Distress Following a Natural Disaster

Social-cognitive theory and conservation-of-resources theory were utilized to understand individual differences in psychological response to natural disaster. Coping self-efficacy, lost resources, social support, and optimism were assessed along with demographic variables in predicting distress following Hurricane Opal. Participants included 67 residents of Okaloosa County, Florida. Multiple regression analyses indicated that coping self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of general distress and trauma-related distress. Loss of resources and gender were also important predictors of general distress. Path analyses demonstrated that lost resources directly influenced general distress, social support, optimism, and coping self-efficacy. These analyses also indicated that coping self-efficacy perceptions mediated the relationships between loss of resources and trauma-related distress, social support and both trauma and general distress, and optimism and both types of distress. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Adaptive Coping Reduces the Impact of Community Violence Exposure on Violent Behavior among African American and Latino Male Adolescents

This study examined whether coping moderated the impact of community violence exposure (CVE) on violent behavior among 285 urban African American and Latino adolescent males assessed annually across 5 years. Composites indicating overall CVE (having knowledge of others’ victimization, witnessing violence, direct victimization) and approach to coping with CVE were created by averaging across years 1–3 (Time 1; mean ages 14–16). Adolescents classified as coping effectively tended to respond to CVE in beneficial ways (e.g., developing long-term solutions, engaging in positive reappraisal). Violent behavior was examined across years 1–3 (Time 1) and years 4–5 (Time 2; mean ages 18–19). CVE was longitudinally associated with greater violent behavior, adjusting for Time 1 levels of violent behavior. This association was significant only among adolescents with less effective coping strategies. Interventions targeting the enhancement of coping skills may be an effective method of reducing the impact of CVE on adolescent violent behavior. Sonya S. Brady is now an Assistant Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota (1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, USA; Tel.: +1-612-6241818; Fax: +1-612-6240315.     

青少年应激及其应对研究综述

目前应激及应对问题的研究已经成为心理学界研究最多的重要课题之一,青少年的应激及应对问题更是其中非常重要的一部分,然而通过与成人应激及应对研究的比较发现,对于青少年的相关研究是不足的.文章结合国内外有关研究的现状,分析了当前应激及应对研究中存在的4个主要问题:(1)应激与应对的评定方法问题;(2)缺乏纵向研究与跨文化研究;(3)研究对象范围较窄,对大学生的研究偏多;(4)缺乏应用方面的研究,并对解决上述问题提出了一些建议.     

Acculturation Among Three Racial/Ethnic Groups of Host and Immigrant Adolescents

This study compares Latino host, Latino immigrant, Asian-American host, Asian-American immigrant and European-American host groups of adolescents with respect to four acculturation-related variables: ethnic identity exploration, ethnic identity affirmation/belonging, outgroup orientation, and American identity. Using the five ethno-generational categories as a grouping variable, we conducted analyses of 313 survey responses to the acculturation items at two time periods, 9 weeks apart. Results showed that differences among the three host racial/ethnic groups can best be explained by a group dominance perspective, whereby the two racial/ethnic minority groups are more similar to each other than they are to the European-American group. Furthermore, the relationship between American identity and ethnic identity components is stronger among the three host groups, as compared to the immigrant groups. Implications for future research with adolescent members of the host group whose heritage culture is non-European are drawn.     

Coping and Positive Affect in Adolescents of Mothers With and Without a History of Depression

The adolescent children of depressed mothers are at increased risk for depression, but little is known about protective factors for these children. Maintenance of positive affect in a stressful context may be an important marker of resilience. Mothers with (n = 34) and without (n = 38) a history of depression and their adolescent children completed questionnaires regarding adolescents’ coping and depressive symptoms and engaged in a 15 min videotaped interaction about family stress. Adolescents’ observed behaviors were coded using the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales. No significant differences emerged in observed behavior between adolescents of mothers with and without a history of depression. Higher levels of primary and secondary control coping and lower levels of disengagement coping were related to higher levels of observed positive mood and fewer depressive symptoms in adolescents. Observed positive mood was related to fewer depressive symptoms in adolescents, even after accounting for maternal history of depression and current maternal depressive symptoms. Results suggest the importance of considering positive affect in the context of family stress as a marker of resilience in adolescents at risk for depression. The current study provides evidence for coping as a protective factor, related to higher levels of positive affect and fewer depressive symptoms, in adolescents exposed to maternal depressive symptoms.