Individual Differences in Adolescent Coping
Open Access
- Author:
- Perzow, Sarah
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 29, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Martha Ellen Wadsworth, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Bethany Cara Bray, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Jose Angel Soto, Committee Member
Diana Fishbein, Committee Member
Benjamin Hankin, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Coping
Developmental Psychopathology
Adolescence
Latent Modeling
Person-Centered Methods
Stress
Functional Adaptation - Abstract:
- Stress is a normative and necessary challenge of adolescence (Compas et al., 1993; Mansfield & Diamond, 2015; Vaughn, Roesch, & Aldridge, 2009), and how adolescents cope with stress has important implications for psychosocial adaptation during this critical period of development (e.g., Calvete & de Arroyabe, 2012; Compas et al., 2006; Wadsworth & Berger, 2006). Coping is closely associated with psychosocial adaptation – some coping strategies are linked with poorer outcomes than others. Broadly, active or engagement coping approaches are associated with greater adaptation whereas avoidance or disengagement coping is associated with greater psychopathology (see Compas et al., 2017 for a review). Adolescence is also characterized by increases in psychopathology (Costello, Mustillo, Erkanli, Keeler, & Angold, 2003), so malleable mechanisms such as coping that can exacerbate or buffer the development of psychopathology in adolescence are vital foci of research as they offer opportunities for improving prevention and intervention efforts (Grant et al., 2006). Much research on coping, psychopathology, and links between the two in adolescence has relied on cross-sectional and variable-centered methods, yet neither coping nor symptoms of psychopathology occur in isolation. Coping is a dynamic, multifaceted process involving complex interactions among numerous strategies (Compas et al., 2017; Connor-Smith et al., 2000), and comorbidity of psychopathology is the rule rather than the exception (Hankin et al., 2016). From a functional adaptation perspective, it is imperative to consider how, when, and for whom coping is adaptive or maladaptive rather than categorizing coping as good or bad (Wadsworth, 2015). Elucidating patterns or profiles of coping within individuals can extend basic research on coping and is a promising avenue for advancing evidence-based interventions. Study 1 investigated normative development of coping in a community sample of adolescents using latent modeling methods that allow for measurement of within-person patterns. Study 1 additionally explored profiles of internalizing psychopathology and modeled developmental associations between coping and psychopathology over a three-year period. Results demonstrated that adolescents employ wide and varied combinations of coping strategies that are not fully captured by traditional variable-centered methods. Five coping profiles were identified using LTA: Inactive, Unengaged, Cognitive, Engaged, and Active Copers. Transition probabilities suggest development of increasingly complex coping repertoires, with profiles characterized by high coping efforts showing the highest stability, and transitions from less active to more active profiles being most likely. Four internalizing psychopathology profiles were identified: Low Internalizing, Harm Avoidant Low Depression, Anxious, and Depressive with Physiologic Arousal. The majority of adolescents in this community sample reported low internalizing symptoms. The Depressive with Physiologic Arousal profile demonstrated the highest stability of all psychopathology profiles, and adolescents in the Anxious profile at Time 1 were similarly likely to transition to the Depressive with Physiologic Arousal profile or to remain in the Anxious profile at Time 2. Exploration of associations between coping and internalizing psychopathology profiles suggested that coping profile membership was associated with psychopathology profile membership at Time 2. The most likely psychopathology profile membership for all five coping profiles was Low Internalizing. Engaged Copers were least likely to report elevated internalizing symptoms, Cognitive Copers and Unengaged Copers were equally likely to be in the Depressive with Physiologic Arousal profile, and Active copers were the most likely to be in the Anxious profile and less likely to be in the Depressive with Physiologic Arousal profile. The purpose of Study 2 was to address the need for research that examines within-person patterns of coping in adolescents facing chronic poverty-related stress (PRS) and who are at elevated risk for maladaptation. Adolescents exposed to chronic stress may develop different coping repertoires than adolescents without these experiences. For example, PRS may constrain the development of coping strategies that are associated with adaptive functioning among those living in less stressful contexts (Wadsworth & Santiago, 2008; Zimmer-Gembeck & Skinner, 2011). Chronic stress also contributes to adolescent psychopathology (Grant et al., 2003; Hammen, 2005; Reiss, 2013; Wadsworth et al., 2011). Individuals living in poverty are consequently at higher risk for maladaptation and have greater need for targeted prevention and intervention (Grant et al., 2004; Perzow, Bray, & Wadsworth, 2018). The primary aim of Study 2 was to compare coping profiles identified in a low-SES sample of adolescents to the coping profiles identified in the community sample from Study 1. Study 2 additionally examined differences in age, gender, and stress exposure between profiles to better understand the specific needs of adolescents facing PRS, and explored whether including involuntary stress responses in addition to voluntary coping efforts contributed to understanding of stress responses in low-SES adolescents. Results demonstrated that low-SES adolescents employ combinations of coping strategies that generally resemble coping patterns of other samples of adolescents. Coping profiles were associated with gender and stress exposure; Inactive Copers were more likely to be male, and Engaged Copers reported the highest exposure to economic strain and family conflict stressors. Greater empirical attention to individual differences in adolescent coping may lead to interventions that are more effective and feasible than traditional one-size-fits-all approaches.