Building Resilience
in Children and
Young People
Positive Coping
Teacher Professional
Development
Positive Coping
What is Positive Coping?
• ‘Coping’ refers to the individual’s efforts to manage both the
various external or environmental challenges and the
internal or psychological demands that are part of everyday
life
• Coping responses include the thoughts, feelings and
actions that occur in response to these demands
• Individuals deal with the demands on them by drawing on a
range of coping strategies. Some coping strategies are
more productive than others
(Frydenberg 2010)
Positive Coping
Why Teaching Positive Coping Strategies?
• Coping strategies are the things people do to help them to self-calm,
persevere and endure, release tension, deal with distress or uncertainty
or lift their mood
• Coping strategies can be learnt through observation
• Children tend to imitate the coping strategies that they see modelled in
their families and amongst their peers
• Boys and girls tend to absorb gendered coping styles
• Students can learn to extend their repertoire of coping strategies and
benefit from critically reflecting on their own choices
• When young people develop language around coping, they are more
likely to be able to understand and deliberately utilise a range of
different strategies for use in addressing different types of challenges
Positive Coping
Gendered Coping Styles
Boys more likely to:
• use humour
• deny anything is wrong
• use physical recreation
or sports
• be aggressive
• ignore the problem
• manage by themselves
• abuse substances
• use distraction
• ventilate emotions
• act out
Girls more likely to:
• talk to others
• seek social support
• be fatalistic
• work harder
• cry
• worry
• blame themselves
• seek others’ approval
• use wishful thinking
• seek spiritual support
• set out to solve the
problem
Positive Coping
Promote Positive Coping Strategies
These coping strategies are
not effective - so teach
children and young people to
minimise use of these:
×
×
×
×
Worry
Self-blame
Keep things to self
Tension reduction (via alcohol,
acting out, displays of anger
and distress)
These coping strategies are
effective - so teach children
and young people to
maximise use of these:
 Work hard
 Focus on solving the problem
 Seek relaxing diversions
 Seek physical recreation
Positive Coping
Key Issues of Concern for Children and Young
Males
People Females
Age 5-9
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Family relationships
Bullying
Friends/peer groups
Emotional wellbeing
Child abuse
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Family relationships
Bullying
Emotional wellbeing
Child abuse
Friends/peer relationships
Age 10-14
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Mental health concerns
Family relationships
Emotional wellbeing
Suicide-related concerns
Dating and partner relationships
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Family relationships
Bullying
Emotional wellbeing
Child abuse
Friends/peer relationships
Age 15-19
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Mental health concerns
Dating and partner relationships
Emotional wellbeing
Suicide-related concerns
Family relationships
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Mental health concerns
Dating and partner relationships
Emotional wellbeing
Friends/peer relationships
Family relationships
BoysTown 2013
Positive Coping
Common Stressors for Children
Young children (age 3-5) are affected by a range of stressors,
the most common being:
• uncertainty
• fear of being abandoned by a significant adult
• fear of toileting accidents
• fear of getting into trouble with a teacher or parent
• fear of being punished by adults
• fear of trying something new
• being bullied or teased
• wanting to belong to a group
• fear of the dark
• fear of losing something or someone special
Positive Coping
Stress in Young People
A major survey of Australian young people aged 1519 showed that
• 40% reported being extremely concerned or very
concerned about coping with stress
• 37% found that school or study problems were a
major concern
(Mission Australia 2013)
Positive Coping
Mental Health Problems in Children and Young
People
•
•
•
•
Mental health problems are experienced by an estimated
14% of 4-17 year olds (Sawyer et al., 2000)
27% of 18-25 year olds (Slade et al., 2009)
9% of young people aged 16-25 have ‘high’ or ‘very high’
levels of psychological distress (Slade et al., 2009)
• Females are twice as likely as males to report high or very
high levels of psychological distress (Slade et al., 2009)
• 75% of mental health problems emerge before the age of
25 (Kessler et al., 2007)
• 19% of 12-24 year olds live with a parent who has a mental
health problem (AIHW, 2011)
Positive Coping
Data from Youth Mental Health Report, 2014
•
•
•
•
•
In 2013, 14,461 young people aged 15-19 years participated in Mission
Australia’s Youth Survey.
The survey used a widely accepted measure of non-specific psychological
distress known as the Kessler 6 (K6) which consists of a six-item scale that
asks about experiences of anxiety and depressive symptoms during the
past four weeks.
The K6 was used to classify Youth Survey respondents into two groups those with a ‘probable serious mental illness’ and those with ‘no probable
serious mental illness’.
Just over one fifth (21.2%) of young people aged 15 -19 who responded to
the survey met the criteria for having a probable serious mental illness,
ranging from 19.4% for 19 year olds to 21.5% for 15 year olds
Females were almost twice as likely as males to meet criteria for having a
probable serious mental illness (26.2% compared to 13.8%)
Mission Australia 2014
Positive Coping
Some Groups are More Vulnerable Than Others
• Females almost twice as likely to be classified as having a
probable serious mental illness as males (26.2% compared
to 13.8%).
• Rates of probable serious mental illness were very similar
for those born in Australia (21.2%) and those not (21.1%)
• Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander respondents had
considerably higher rates of probable serious mental illness
(31.8% compared to 20.7%)
• Rates of probable serious mental illness were substantially
higher for respondents who reported a disability than those
who didn’t (32.8% compared to 20.3%)
Positive Coping
Higher distress levels for young people with a
probable serious mental illness
• When compared with than those without a probable serious mental
illness, young people with a probable serious mental illness were:
• around 5 times more likely to express serious concerns about
depression (57.0% compared to 11.5%)
• around 5 times more likely to express serious concerns about suicide
(35.3% compared to 6.8%)
• 2.5 times more likely to indicate that coping with stress was a major
concern (71.7% compared to 29.5%)
• around twice as likely to indicate that school or study problems were a
major concern (61.6% compared to 31.0%)
• around twice as likely to indicate that body image is a major concern
(57.1% compared to 23.8%)
• Almost 3 times more likely to have serious concerns around family
conflict (40.1% compared to 14.2%).
Positive Coping
Top concerns – higher distress levels for females
than males
Females with a
probable serious
mental illness:
• Coping with stress
77.9%
• School or study
problems 66.0%
• Body image 65.9%
• Depression 59.8%
Males with a probable
serious mental illness:
• Coping with stress
54.9%
• Depression 49.7%
• School or study
problems 49.4%
• Body image 32.9%
Mission Australia 2014
Positive Coping
More Serious Concerns About More Issues
• Young people without a probable serious
mental illness had serious concerns about 1.6
issues, compared with 4.3 for those with a
probable serious mental illness
• In addition to having more serious concerns
about the issues, young people with a probable
serious mental illness also appear to be trying
to cope with a higher load of issues than those
without a probable serious mental disorder.
Mission Australia 2014
Positive Coping
Lower Help Seeking Comfort for those in Most Need
• When compared with than those without a probable
serious mental illness, young people with a probable
serious mental illness are substantially more
uncomfortable seeking information, advice or support
from:
 Parents: 32.8% compared to 10.3%
 Relatives/family friends: 34.3% compared to 14.5%
 Teachers: 49.6% compared to 29.2%
• Friends and the internet are the top sources of
information, advice or support that young people, both
with and without a probable serious mental illness, were
comfortable going to
Mission Australia 2014
Positive Coping
Gender and Help Seeking
60% of male and female respondents with a probable serious
mental illness felt uncomfortable accessing help from:
• a telephone hotline 69.5%
• a community agency 60.2%
• online counselling services 61.7%
Males with a probable serious mental illness were more
uncomfortable than females in seeking information, advice
and support from:
• friends (18.3% compared to 11.4%)
• the internet (21.7% compared to 13.6%)
• magazines (50.5% compared to 36.2%)
Positive Coping
Positive and Negative Self-Talk
•
•
•
•
•
Self-talk is what we say to ourselves when we are
thinking. Mostly this just happens inside our head,
though sometimes we also say it out loud:
Negative self-talk includes over-personalising
adversity, excessive self-blame, and exaggerating
the likely duration and impact of adversity or failure.
It includes focussing on what is wrong and ignoring
what is right.
Positive self-talk includes more realistic appraisal
of capacity, circumstances and effort. It includes
acknowledging and being grateful for the positives,
recognising personal strengths and positive
intentions, and realistic attribution of responsibility.
Use of positive self-talk is associated with greater
persistence in the face of challenge, whereas
negative self-talk is associated with higher levels of
distress, depression and anxiety (Seligman 1995)
Those who use positive self-talk about how they will
approach and manage challenge are more likely to
succeed. Positive self-talk can be learnt or
strengthened through practice (Seligman 2009;
2003)
Positive
Self-talk
Negative
Self-talk
Positive Coping
Optimistic and Pessimistic Thinking Styles
• Research in the field of positive psychology identifies the
difference between pessimistic and optimistic thinking
styles:
 Pessimistic thinking style is associated with higher levels
of depression
 Optimistic thinking style is associated with greater
persistence in the face of challenge and a better capacity
to use resources and supports
• Teachers and parents can inadvertently transmit pessimistic
thinking styles. Optimistic thinking styles can be learnt both
through direct instruction and practice and through rolemodelling
Positive Coping
Using the Learning Activities to Promote Use of
Positive Strategies
• The Building Resilience Social and Emotional Learning
(SEL) activities provide opportunities for children to identify
and discuss the value of different types of coping strategies
• They learn about the way in which self-talk contributes to
more productive or less productive coping responses
• The topic areas of Positive Coping and Stress-Management
include many experiential and reflective activities designed
to develop skills of self-calming and positive coping
Positive Coping
Example Learning Activities:
1. Cheering Up and Calming Down
• Students show strategies they use to cheer
themselves up when they feel lonely or sad
• Students show strategies they use to calm
themselves down when they are angry, afraid,
jealous or very excited
• Students draw a picture of themselves using a
favourite coping strategy to help them manage
one of their fears
This activity is adapted from the Level 5-6 Building Resilience learning materials (Topic 3: Positive coping, Activity 3)
Positive Coping
Example Learning Activities:
2. Personal coping profiles
• Students share favourite coping strategies.
• Draw up your own ‘Positive Coping Profile’. Include 20
positive coping strategies, with at least one strategy from
each of the five categories:
1. Energetic Activity
2. Self-Calming Activity
3. Social Activity
4. Shifting attention Activity
5. Getting Organised Activity
This activity is adapted from the Level 5-6 Building Resilience learning materials (Topic 3: Positive coping, Activity 3)
Positive Coping
Example Learning Activities:
3. What is self-talk?
Negative self-talk: is when we say
negative things to ourselves
Positive self-talk: is when we say
positive things to ourselves
Technical self-talk: is when we tell
ourselves how to do things while we are
doing them
• Work in pairs
• Read the example scenario (or
make up another scenario)
• Make up an example of each of the
three types of self-talk for a person in
this scenario
Example scenario: If
you were a tourist
travelling by yourself in a
foreign country you have
never been to what would
positive self-talk,
negative self-talk and
technical self-talk sound
like?
This activity is adapted from the Level 7-8 Building Resilience learning materials (Topic 3: Positive coping, Activity 1)
Positive Coping
Example Learning Activities:
4. Six Mind-traps of Pessimistic thinking
Students map pessimistic thoughts and develop
optimistic thoughts to contest or argue back:
1. Over-reacting
2. Exaggerating how bad things are
3. Mind-reading or thinking you know what other people think
about you
4. Taking it too personally (Not taking enough responsibility
for what happens and blaming other people
5. Not taking enough responsibility for what happens and
blaming other people
6. Ignoring the positives or the good things that happen
Positive Coping
Example Learning Activities:
5. Self-reflection on coping strategies
• Fill out the coping profile handout provided, thinking about
the sorts of strategies you use to cope when faced with a
difficult situation
• What are your top five (most used) strategies?
• What are the top three strategies you’d like to use more?
• If you would like to use some strategies more often, how
might you go about doing this?
• Are there any strategies you rarely use? Think about the
reasons for this
• Compare some responses with a partner
This activity is adapted from the Level 9-10 Building Resilience learning materials (Topic 5: Stress management, Activity 2)
Positive Coping
REFLECT
• What coping repertoire do you use to build a good work-life
balance?
• How do you model use of productive coping strategies
when things do not go to plan in your classroom?
• What sorts of anger management strategies do you favour
in your personal and professional life?
• What strategies do you use to encourage students to use
productive coping strategies?
Positive Coping
Useful Links
• SAFEMinds
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/health/Pag
es/safeminds.aspx
• Headspace
www.headspace.org.au/
• Beyond blue
www.beyondblue.org.au/
• Smiling Mind
www.smilingmind.com.au/
Positive Coping
References
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BoysTown. (2013). Kids Helpline Overview 2012. Milton, Qld: Boystown2011.
Frydenberg, E. (2010). Think positively! A course for developing coping skills in adolescents. London:
Continuum International Publishing Group.
Frydenberg, E., Deans, J., & O'Brien, K. (2012). Developing everyday coping skills in the early years:
Proactive strategies for supporting social and emotional development. London: Continuum Inc. Press.
Kessler, R. C., Amminger, G. P., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Lee, S., & Üstün, T. B. (2007). Age of
onset mental disorders: a review of recent literature. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 20(4), 359-364.
Lewis, R., & Frydenberg, E., 2002, ‘Concomitants of failure to cope: What we should teach adolescents
about coping,’ British Journal Of Educational Psychology, No. 72, pp. 419-431
Mission Australia. (2013). Youth Survey 2013. Sydney: Mission Australia.
Mission Australia (2014) Youth Mental Health report of Young Australians June 2014
http://www.missionaustralia.com.au
Sawyer, M.G, Arney, F. M., Baghurst, P. A., Clark, J. J., Graetz, B. W., Kosky, R. J., . . . Zubrick, S.R.
(2000). The Mental Health of Young People in Australia: Key Findings from the Child and Adolescent
Component of the National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. Australian and New Zealand
Journal of Psychiatry, 35(6), 806-814
Seligman, M. (1995). The Optimistic Child, Sydney: Random House.
Seligman, M., et al. (2009). Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions.
Oxford Review of Education, 35(3): p. 293-311.
Seligman, M., (2002). Authentic Happiness, New York: Free Press.
Slade, T. , Johnston, A., Teesson, M., Whiteford, H. , Burgess, P., & Pirkis, J. (2009). The mental health
of Australians 2: Report on the 2007 national survey of mental health and wellbeing. Canberra:
Department of Health and Ageing.