Coping strategies and psychological distress: Prospective analyses of early and middle adolescents

Administered measures of coping, life events, and anxiety and depression to junior high and senior high school samples on two occasions, separated by a 5-month interval. Factor analyses supported the creation of coping subscales for problem solving, cognitive coping, social entertainment, physical exercise, and peer support. A one-item index of parental support was also included in the analyses. The coping subscales showed moderate temporal stability. Mothers' reports of their children's coping provided only marginal support for the validity of the adolescents' self-reports. Prospective regression analyses of the early adolescent data revealed that problem-solving coping was negatively related to depression, and that social entertainment coping was negatively related to anxiety. The prospective effects for the middle adolescents' coping were nonsignificant. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the measurement of adolescent coping strategies and research on the relation between these strategies and psychological functioning.