A literature review and analysis of adolescent stress
and coping
Cameron Montgomery
University of Ottawa
cmontgom@uottawa.ca
The author reviews and analyzes the research literature on stress and
coping in adolescents between 1997 and present, asking what causes
adolescents’ environmental stress and how adolescents regulate their stress
and coping. The literature reveals marked differences in varieties and
sources of environmental stress for boys and girls, differential influences of
parenting behaviour on adolescents’ stress and coping, and the influence of
certain milieus on induction of different stressors and coping strategies.
Emotional regulation of external events evolves over time into selfregulation. Adolescents who have delays within this evolution may be more
prone to more personal problems including high school dropout.
Academic performance has become one of the most prevalent stressors in western
society for adolescents, and certain coping strategies can predict high school dropout
(Hess & Copeland, 2001). However, studies on adolescent stress and coping present
divergent causes of adolescent stress related to the environment. Moreover, results
differ in terms of the way adolescents regulate their stress and coping. This literature
review examines the scientific literature on the theme of adolescent stress and coping
between 1997 and present and will answer the following questions in order to better
understand high school dropout:
Question 1: What are the main causes of adolescents’ environmental stress?
Question 2: How do adolescents regulate their stress and coping?
Method
Inclusion criteria
We used the key words “adolescents”, “coping” and “stress”, and gathered more than
400 scientific articles from several research engines (e.g.“Scholars Portal” and
“PsychInfo”) between January 1997 and June 2011 because these dates were considered
contemporary covering a 14 year time span. Articles had to be empirical in nature
including both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Twenty nine articles were
retained based on their relevance; that is, a general adolescent population rather than a
clinical or sub-population (e.g. post traumatic stress disorder, clinically depressed,
personality disorder, schizoprehenic population, etc.). Also, articles that aimed at
measurement validations (i.e. questionnaires), that presented ambiguous and/or null
hypotheses (non significant results), and conceptual articles were not included.
Analysis procedure
A content analysis was conducted based on the present researchers ‘conceptual
knowledge of the stress and coping literature. The articles were then categorized into
two major themes in relation to each research question: (1) environmental stress and (2)
cognitive-emotional regulation. Each of the two themes is defined at the beginning of
each section. Certain methodological details are briefly described and incorporated into
the literature review when deemed necessary in order to better understand the various
articles’ contexts. A summary of the conclusions reached from the reviewed studies
concludes each of the two sections.
Literature Review
Research question 1: environmental stress
Environmental stress refers to one’s environment that is both changing and unchanging.
Examples of themes related to environmental stresses that are subject to change are:
family support, social support, socio-economic status and milieu, parenting behaviour,
parental drug abuse, and social and extra-curricular activities. Those that are not subject
to change include gender and ethnicity.
Building on evidence that romantic experiences are associated with depressive
symptoms in adolescence, Davila, Stroudd, Starr, Miller, Yoneda and Hershenberg
(2009), examined their bidirectional association, as well as the role of sexual activity
and parent-adolescent stress in their association. Data were collected from 71 early
adolescent girls (Mean age 13.45 years) and their primary caregiver initially and one
year later. Results indicated that adolescents who engaged in more romantic activities
experienced increases in depressive symptoms over time. Second, greater depressive
symptoms predicted romantic involvement and sexual activities, including intercourse,
one year later. Third, dysphoric adolescents who were experiencing higher parentadolescent stress were the most likely to engage in subsequent sexual intercourse.
Halkola, D’Onofrio, Iliadou, Langstrom and Lichtenstein (2010) examined whether
mothers’ smoking during pregnancy (SDP) is associated with long-term impairment in
offspring stress coping and the causal mechanism behind a possible link. They used a
cohort (n =187) of young men in Sweden (Mean age 18.2 years), who underwent a
semi-structured psychological assessment between 1997 and 2006, including an
evaluation of stress coping ability, as part of the compulsory military conscript
examination. They compared differentially exposed siblings within nuclear families
and cousins in extended families and used multilevel structural equation models to
disentangle genetic from environmental contributions to the association between SDP
and stress coping. SDP and offspring stress coping was moderately strongly associated
when comparing unrelated individuals. In contrast, it disappeared when siblings were
compared. This familial confounding appeared to be entirely due to genetic influences.
Putnik, Bornstein, Hendricks, Painter, Suwalsky and Collins (2008) assessed whether
the stresses associated with parenting a child are indirectly related to adolescent selfconcept through parenting behaviour. They examined longitudinal associations among
mothers’ and fathers’ parenting stress at age 10, children’s perceptions of parenting at
age 10, and adolescents’ self-concept at age 14 in 120 European American families.
Mothers’ and fathers’ parenting stress was related to children’s perceptions of
acceptance and psychologically controlling behaviour, and psychologically controlling
behaviour (and lax control for fathers) was related to adolescent self-concept. They
further examined which domains of parenting stress and perceived parenting behaviour
were associated with adolescents’ scholastic competence, social acceptance, physical
appearance, and behavioral conduct. Parenting stress was related to specific parenting
behaviour, which was, in turn, related to specific domains of self-concept in
adolescence. Parenting stress appears to exert its effects on early adolescent selfconcept indirectly through perceived parenting behaviour.
Fox, Halpern, Ryan and Lowe (2010) examined how negative affectivity (NA) and
positive affectivity (PA) influence developmental pathways to internalizing problems.
Based on models that propose that affectivity shapes how youth react to stress, their
study investigated the relative roles of NA, PA, and stressful life events in
characterizing and differentiating adolescent anxiety and depression. A sample of
adolescent girls (n = 63), including a sub-sample of adolescent mothers, completed
measures of NA, PA, negative life event (NLE) occurrence, anxiety, and depression.
Findings supported the tripartite model as a ‘‘temperamental reactivity to stress’’
approach. Anxious and depressive symptoms were predicted by a combination of high
NA and high NLE occurrence; however, a combination of low PA and high NLE
occurrence was uniquely linked to greater depressive symptoms.
Finklestein, Kubzansky, Capitmanand and Goodman (2007) decided to investigate
whether psychological resources influenced the association between parent education
(PE), a marker of socioeconomic status (SES), and perceived stress. Their crosssectional analyses were conducted in a sample of 1167 non-Hispanic black and white
junior and senior high school students from a Midwestern public school district in
2002–2003. The effects of PE (high school graduate or less), and psychological
resources (optimism and coping style) on teens’ perceived stress were examined.
Greater optimism and adaptive coping were hypothesized to influence (i.e., mediate or
moderate) the relationship between higher PE and lower stress. They found that relative
to adolescents from families with a professionally educated parent, adolescents with
lower parent education had higher levels of perceived stress. Both psychological
resources were associated with stress: higher optimism and engagement coping were
associated with less stress and higher disengagement coping was associated with more
stress. Adding optimism to the regression model attenuated the effect of SES by nearly
30%, suggesting that optimism partially mediates the inverse SES-stress relationship.
Mediation was confirmed using a Sobel test. Adolescents from families with lower
parent education are less optimistic than teens from more educated families. This
pessimism may be a mechanism through which lower SES increases stress in
adolescence.
Laohawattanakun, Chearskul, Dumrongphol, Jutapakdeegul, Yensukjai, Khumpham,
Niltiean and Thangnipon (2010) investigated cortisol response in saliva of Thai
adolescents taking academic examinations and analyzed the differences of the stress
response between musician and control subjects. Also, they observed whether the
academic examination-dependent corticosteroid response affected learning and memory
in the test subjects, which comprised 30 musician and 30 control students, age ranging
from 15 to 17 years. Mathematical examinations were used as the stressor. Pre- and
post-academic examination saliva cortisol levels were measured as well as self-
estimated stress levels. Results showed that the pre-academic examination saliva
cortisol concentrations of the musician group were significantly lower than those of the
control group, whereas there was no difference in the stress inventory scores between
the two groups. Interestingly, among students with grade point average (GPA) o>3.50,
pre-academic examination cortisol levels were significantly lower in the musician group
compared with the control group. This study suggests that under an academic
examination-induced stress condition, a history of music training is associated with
reduced saliva cortisol levels.
Jutengren, Kerr and Stattin (2011) examined the predictive effects of peer victimization
and harsh parenting on deliberate self-harm. As derived from the experiential
avoidance model, the authors also tested whether these links were moderated by
individual self-regulation approaches. Data were collected at two times from 880 junior
high school students (mean age=13.72) in Sweden. Analyses using structural equation
modeling revealed that peer victimization was predictive of self-harm. Although harsh
parenting was not predictive of self-harm, this link was moderated by adolescents'
gender. No moderating effect of self-regulation was revealed. The authors concluded
that the high prevalence of deliberate self-harm recently found in community samples of
adolescents cannot be prevented without attending to environmental psychosocial
factors.
Brusaert and Van Houtte (2004) identified perceived social support mechanisms
through which the gender composition of the school may influence pupils’ stress
responses, using data from 68 academically oriented Flemish secondary schools in
Belgium. Of these schools, 25 were co-ed schools and 43 were single-sex schools (21
girls schools and 22 boys schools). Respondents (3,370 girls and 3,057 boys) were
third-year students, ages 14 and 15. A multilevel analysis (Hierarchical Linear
Modeling) was performed, adjusting for parental socioeconomic status (SES), parental
support, academic performance, curriculum enrolment, school mean SES, sense of
belonging in school, and quality of teacher-pupil relationships. Results showed that
early adolescent girls in single-sex schools experience lower levels of stress than do
girls in coeducational schools and that this effect is largely accounted for by sense of
belonging.
Chaplin, Freiburger, Mayes and Sinha (2010) examined salivary cortisol, self-reported
emotion, heart rate, and blood pressure (BP) responses to the Trier Social Stress Test
(TSST) in 49 prenatally cocaine exposed and other drug exposed (PCE) and 33 noncocaine-exposed (NCE) adolescents. PCE adolescents had higher cortisol levels before
and after stress exposure than did NCE adolescents. PCE girls showed an elevated
anxiety response to stress (compared to NCE girls) and PCE boys showed a dampened
diastolic BP response (compared to NCE boys). Girls showed higher anger response
and lower pre-stress systolic BP than boys. Group differences were found controlling
for potential confounding variables and were not moderated by caregiver–child
relationship quality (although relationship quality predicted anxiety response). The
findings suggest that prenatal drug exposure is associated with altered stress response in
adolescence somewhat differentially in boys and girls.
Latha and Hanumanth (2006) aimed to assess the nature of stress, social support
systems and coping styles among adolescents. They sampled 100 students in Pre
University College (II year) of both genders in the age range of 16-19 years with the
Adolescent Stress Scale, a semi-structured interview to elicit social support, and a selfreport coping scale. They found that the main sources of stress in both genders were
getting up early in the morning, pressure to study, having to concentrate for too long
during college hours, not having enough money to buy things, and long college hours.
Prayer was the main coping strategy used by both genders. Boys had larger social
network than did girls.
Elgar, Arlett and Groves (2003) studied the differences between rural and urban
adolescents and gender differences related to stress levels, coping strategies and
behavioral problems. Four major results were found. First, they found no differences
between rural and urban adolescents in terms of stress levels and behavioral problems,
but urban adolescent boys reported more conflictual problems than did girls and urban
boys reported having more external problems than did rural boys and girls. Second,
rural adolescents were more affected by higher unemployment, poverty and emigration
but did not differ significantly from urban adolescents in terms of stress levels or coping
strategies. Third, even though conflict levels and behavior problems seemed to be
similar between rural and urban adolescents, rural adolescents seemed to have a closer
relationship between these two variables as well as between conflict and coping strategy
in this same group. Fourth, the approach strategy did not act as a moderator in the
relationship between stress and behavioral problems.
Landis, Gaylord-Harden, Malinowski, Grant, Carleton and Ford (2007) explored
potential mechanisms through which uncontrollable, chronic stressors may lead to
hopelessness in 796 racially and ethnically diverse low-income urban adolescents. In
particular, the roles of specific coping strategies as moderators and/or mediators of the
association between stressors and hopelessness were examined. Chronic, uncontrollable
stressors were significantly and positively related to hopelessness in their sample.
Active coping, distraction coping, and social-support-seeking coping emerged as
moderators for boys, such that uncontrollable stressors were more highly associated
with hopelessness for those boys who reported using more active, distraction, and
social-support-seeking coping strategies. An analogous moderating effect was found
for ruminative coping by girls. Ruminative coping also emerged as a mediator of the
relation between uncontrollable stressors and hopelessness for girls.
Wadsworth and Berger (2006) examined adolescents’ family stress related to poverty in
order to predict psychological symptoms. Coping strategies related to primary and
secondary control predicted a reduction of aggressive and anxious/depressive behaviour,
whereas those based on disengagement had the inverse effect which was verified for
anxiety and depression but not for aggression. Family stress linked with poverty
interfered with coping strategies by interfering with adolescents’ abilities to use primary
and secondary control strategies to help them avoid using disengagement strategies: this
stress predicted anxious/depressive and aggressive behaviour. It was the same for the
interaction between involuntary reactivity to stress and these coping strategies. Primary
and secondary control strategies were associated with changes in psychological
symptoms with initial symptoms and low involuntary reactivity to stress. The
interaction between coping strategies based on primary and secondary control and
psychological symptoms predicted a reduction of these symptoms in those who have
these initial symptoms, which was verified by internalized symptoms but not
externalized symptoms.
Lohman and Jarvis (2000) used Bronfenbrenner’s ecosystemic model to explore the
relationship between adolescents’ cohesive and conflictual relations with others and
their coping strategies related to their mental health and behaviour problems. A
perception of family cohesion predicted active and adaptive coping strategies, whereas a
perception of family conflict predicted avoidant coping strategies (maladaptive
strategies). More cohesion and less conflict, as well as parents’ understanding of their
adolescents’ coping strategies, predicted fewer mental health symptoms. When
perceptions were congruent between family dyads (especially between father and
adolescent) this influenced mental health more than did individual coping strategies.
Family members who knew other members’ stressors were more likely to support each
other when problem s arose.
Hampel and Peterman (2006) found that adolescent girls perceived more interpersonal
stress, used more maladaptive coping strategies, and had more internalized problems
than did adolescent boys. They did not differ from boys in regard to externalized
problems, which was rather surprising. Interpersonal stress was also related to anger
management problems and emotional distress in female adolescents. The authors
confirmed that adaptive coping strategies are inversely related to adjustment problems
and maladaptive strategies. Problem focused coping strategies are less associated with
poor adjustment problems, which supports the notion that active strategies or approach
strategies are a protective factor relative to internal disorders. Emotional coping
strategies are related to less anxiety/depression and aggression problems. Maladaptive
coping strategies constitute a risk factor. Adolescent girls react strongly to interpersonal
stressors and make more efforts to adapt to social stressors than boys do.
Alridge and Roesch (2008) used latent profile analysis (LPA) to develop a coping
typology of minority adolescents. A multiethnic sample (n =354) was recruited from a
program serving low-income students. LPA revealed three distinct coping profiles.
The first comprised adolescents who used a number of specific coping strategies at a
low level (low generic copers). The second comprised adolescents who emphasized
active/approach strategies (e.g., planning; active copers). The third comprised
adolescents who emphasized avoidant/passive strategies (e.g., substance abuse; avoidant
copers). Active copers experienced significantly less depression and more stress-related
growth than did low generic copers. Low generic copers not only experienced
significantly less depression than did avoidant copers but also significantly less stress
related growth than active copers.
Korte (1998) explored congruent perceptions between mothers and their adolescents
regarding stress and coping and whether this congruence contributed to the adaptive
nature of adolescents when faced with health problems. The results were not
significant. However, when excluding the mothers the sample size increased thus
revealing that adolescent boys demonstrated that they have higher self esteem in regard
to their bodies, better self image, and fewer health problems than girls.
Griffith, Dubow, and Ippolito (2000) presented coping as approach and avoidant
strategies. Female adolescents reported using approach strategies when faced by
family, school, and peer stressors. Avoidant coping strategies were used by female
adolescents for two stressors (family, peers), and anxiety. They used more coping
strategies than male adolescents.
Cassady (2002) studied the relationship between self regulation and environmental
affordance, defined as the resources adolescents are able to bring to bear in order to
cope with environmental demands. She found that adolescent females experienced
more stress than males from environmental influences. There is a greater social
synchronicity whereby puberty and entry into high school are associated with increased
challenges, thus augmenting the adaptive rift between their development and their
environment, between their internal and external resources and their challenges. In fact,
female adolescents experience more stress in high school because of the added pressure
of social roles. School organization is more oriented towards accomplishment whereas
females are more oriented towards affiliation that is, finding solutions with others’ help.
Given that both stresses are compounded, one can better understand why females
experience more distress, report more frequent stressful events, and claim to use more
efforts coping.
Summary: conclusions of adolescents’ environmental stress
Female and male adolescents have seemingly different experiences when coping with
stress. Interpersonal stress seems to be more acute for girls whether it be from a
breakup or coping with daily stressors at home and at school. All-girl schools have an
effect on girls’ sense of belonging, thereby reducing their stress levels. This is a relevant
research avenue and consistent with present day debates around same-sex schooling.
Boys experience less stress than girls do regarding their bodily self esteem, self-image
and health.
Parental smoking and drug abuse do have effects on adolescent stress. Parental stress in
itself affects adolescents’ sexual relationships as they engage in more sexual
experiences than is true of adolescents whose parents cope more effectively with stress.
Parental understanding of their adolescents’ coping strategies helps them in the stresscoping process. Low parental education does have an effect on adolescent stress
whereby social economic status, optimism, and stress are linked. High parental
optimism leads to engagement and lower adolescent stress. Harsh parenting may not be
a salient stressor compared with peer victimization. More research is needed to clarify
the relation between parental behaviour and adolescent stress and coping.
Certain environments or milieus seem to induce or reduce stress. Interest and
engagement in music seems to help adolescents cope with stressful situations such as
writing an exam. Moreover, there are differences between urban and rural adolescents
whereby rural adolescents are stressed by unemployment, poverty and emigration
whereas urban adolescents have more conflictual problems and external problems.
Urban adolescents should be aware that chronic, uncontrollable stressors are related to
hopelessness. Disengagement strategies lead to anxiety and depression. Active coping
seems to reduce stress in minority adolescents over time thus providing a promising
avenue for future research on the link between stress and coping.
Research question 2: cognitive-emotional regulation
Cognitive and emotional regulation refers to internal social and cognitive skills
(including self-regulation and metacognition) when confronted by threat or challenge.
It often includes the term self. Some of the related themes of cognitive-emotional
regulation are: internal (self-control) versus external locus of control, self-esteem, sense
of well being, perfectionism, actively seeking social support (family, professional
and/or friends) and participating in physical activity.
O’Connor, Rasmussen and Hawton (2009) investigated the extent to which
perfectionism and acute life stress predict depression, anxiety and self-harm among
adolescent school children (n = 515) over a 6 month period (Time 1–Time 2). Socially
prescribed perfectionism (SPP) self-oriented perfectionism–critical (SOP-critical) and
the associated interactions with acute life stress differentially predicted anxiety,
depression and self-harm. Acute life stress was an independent predictor of depression,
anxiety and self-harm. SPP predicted depression and interacted with acute life stress to
predict self-harm. SOP-critical and the SOP-critical by acute life stress interaction
predicted anxiety. Self-oriented perfectionism striving (SOP-striving) did not predict
any of the Time2 measures of distress. The dimensions of perfectionism are
differentially associated with psychological distress.
Byrne, Davenport and Mazenov (2007) sought information on the nature of adolescent
stressors, building on a previous instrument developed by Byrne to ask adolescents
themselves to inform the development of a pool of new items reflecting stressor
experience and to advise on the wording of these items to assess that experience
comprehensively. This pool of items was then administered as a self-report
questionnaire to a large sample of school-age adolescents together with a scale to assess
the intensity of distress arising from stressor occurrence. Principal components analysis
of the questionnaire yielded 10 internally reliable dimensions of adolescent stress, the
nature of which was consistent with the available literature on adolescent stressor
experience: 1) Stress of Home Life, 2) Stress of School Performance, 3) Stress of
School Attendance, 4) Stress of Romantic Relationships, 5) Stress of Peer Pressure, 6)
Stress of Teacher Interaction, 7) Stress of Future Uncertainty, 8) Stress of
School/Leisure conflict, 9) Stress of Financial Pressure, 10) Stress of Emerging Adult
Responsibility.
Roemmich, Feda, Seelbinder, Lambiase, Kala and Dorn (2011) examined the
association between cardiovascular activity, and a set of psychological stressors, and
carotid artery intima-media thickness, a marker of subclinical cardiovascular disease in
healthy adolescents. Participants were 25 boys and 23 girls aged 14.2 years who were
measured for heart rate (HR), systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure activity
during mirror-tracing, reaction time, speech preparation and ad lib speech tasks, as well
as for common carotid artery intima-media thickness. Sequential regression analyses
were used to establish the incremental increase in R2 (R2inc) for the prediction of
intima-media thickness due to cardiovascular activity independent of age, body mass
index percentile, sex, socioeconomic status, and resting HR or BP. SBP reactivity while
preparing and giving the speech and an aggregate reactivity score based on all 4 tasks
independently predicted mean carotid artery intima-media thickness. Neither DBP
reactivity nor HR reactivity during any task was an independent predictor of intimamedia thickness. They concluded that stress-induced cardiovascular activity, and
especially SBP reactivity, is associated with carotid intima-media thickness and the
early pathogenesis of cardio vascular disease. The use of an aggregate stress reactivity
index provides a more reliable reflection of trait SBP reactivity to psychological stress
and increases the confidence that youth with greater cardiovascular stress reactivity may
indeed have greater progression of subclinical cardiovascular disease.
Nguyen-Rodriguez, Chou, Unger and Spruijt-Metz (2008) conducted multiple group
SEM analyses using cross sectional data from 517 minority (black and Hispanic)
students in Los Angeles County. Results showed no differences in emotional eating
between normal- weight and overweight students. Perceived stress was indeed a
significant correlate of emotional eating, independent of body mass index. Findings
highlight the fact that emotional eating is not an issue only for overweight and obese
persons. This study shows that some children in this population at increased risk for
obesity and related chronic disease have already incorporated emotional eating as a
learned response to stress by the time they enter adolescence.
Bowkeer, Buklowski, Hymel and Sippola (2000) tried to determine whether adolescents
use certain strategies for coping with daily “hassles” at the beginning of adolescence.
They defined each hassle by measuring the amount of perceived control to determine
whether this acted as a mediator. Perceived control varied according to experience with
peers and gender but its role of mediator was not established. The fit between the
degree of perceived control and the chosen coping strategies was established and is
rather adaptive in that there were no maladaptive coping strategies; however, aggressive
adolescents, tending towards a higher perception of control, could be overestimating
their skills. Adolescents with less perceived control had a more precise perception of
themselves even underestimating their skills in certain cases.
Haraldsson, Lingren, Fridlund, Baigi, Lydell and Marklund (2008) evaluated a schoolbased adolescent health promotion programme with focus on well-being related to
stress. They gave tests before and after the intervention. The study was performed in
two secondary schools in a town on the west coast of Sweden. A health promotion
programme comprising massage and mental training was implemented for a single
academic year in one school (intervention school, 153 participants) in order to
strengthen and maintain well-being. No intervention was implemented in the other
school (non-intervention school, 287 participants). A questionnaire was developed and
tested, resulting in 23 items distributed across the following six areas: self-reliance;
leisure time; being an outsider; general and home satisfaction; school satisfaction; and
school environment. A pre- and post-intervention comparison of the six areas was
made within each school. In the intervention school, the boys maintained a very good or
good sense of well-being related to stress in all six areas, while the girls’ sense of
wellbeing was maintained in five areas and deteriorated in one area. In the nonintervention school, the boys maintained a very good or good sense of well-being
related to stress in four areas and deteriorated in two areas, while the girls’ sense of
well-being was maintained in two areas and deteriorated in four areas. Massage and
mental training helped to maintain adolescents’ very good or good sense of well-being
related to stress. IN SS
Herman-Stahl and Petersen (1999) explored the effects of direct and interactive coping
strategies, family relations, and personal control of the levels, current and future, of
depressive symptoms during adolescence. They specifically assessed adolescents’
beliefs in their own skills to manage new or challenging situations through mastery and
optimism. An assessment of skills in peer relations was also included. All three
variables predicted depressive symptoms and buffer stress symptoms. Adolescents’
beliefs about their personal control efficacy appeared to reduce the effects of stress on
depressive symptoms, and their beliefs about personal control and family relations
significantly predicted depressive symptoms later on, having controlled it at an earlier
stage. The indirect measures of family relations did not have a moderating effect. The
coping strategies measures indicated a general adaptation style, whereas their capacity
to reduce the effects of stress is revealed by examining the interaction between a
specific stressful event and present coping strategies in relation to the event.
Fields and Prinz (1997) synthesized 10 years of empirical data and included the variable
of control in the relationship between stress and coping. They defined control as being
primary, secondary, and released, respectively. They surmised that as children mature
into adolescence they start using a panoply of coping strategies. Their preference for
approach/avoidance or problem/emotion coping strategies becomes less extreme (e.g,
they use a mixture of problem and emotion focussed strategies). They demonstrate
reflective development using both a cognitive and behavioral repertoire of coping
strategies. This transformation of the choice of coping strategies comes from a more
sophisticated understanding of their stressors, hence a greater controllability of stressful
events.
Compas, Connor-Smith, Saltzman, Harding Thomsen and Wadsworth (2001) studied
coping aimed at maintaining, increasing or altering the control of the environment and
of self. Primary control aims at influencing conditions or objective events, secondary
control aims at maximising one’s own adaptation to current conditions, and released
control does not entail any attempt aiming at making an effort. According to Compas,
Connor-Smith and Jaser (2004), two processes, one automatic, the other controlled,
characterize stress responses and distinguish themselves by engagement or
disengagement when faced by sources of stress and one’s own reactions to stress. The
automatic processes include physiological arousal, emotional arousal, intrusive
thoughts, automatically biased attention, impulsive responses and involuntary behaviour
of avoidance. Controlled processes are reflected in coping strategies, defined by
voluntary and conscious efforts to regulate emotion, cognition, behaviour, physiology
and environment in response to stressful events or circumstances. Coping strategies
involving engagement responses are distinguished by primary or active control
(problem solving, expression of emotions, emotional modulation) and secondary control
or accommodation (acceptance, cognitive restructuration, positive thinking, and
distraction). Disengagement strategies include avoidance, denial, and wishful thinking.
Connor-Smith, Compas, Wadsworth, Thomsen and Saltzman (2000) found a correlation
between adolescents’ primary control with five variables: active coping strategies,
planning, instrumental support, emotional venting and emotional support). Secondary
control correlated with positive reinterpretation and acceptance. Disengagement
correlated with three variables (denial, behavioral disengagement, mental
disengagement) and with a fourth variable (restrictive strategies). Three other
correlations surfaced; two between primary control (suppression of competitive
activities, positive reinterpretation), and one between disengagement and venting of
emotions. Moreover, coping strategies based on voluntary engagement were connected
to fewer internalized and externalized problems, whereas disengagement strategies are
negatively correlated. Involuntary responses (rumination, intrusive thoughts “emotional
and physical arousal” and impulsivity) and disengagement (cognitive interference,
involuntary avoidance, inaction and emotional numbing) go beyond coping strategies as
such by are also strongly correlated.
Hampel and Peterman (2005) examined adolescents’ coping strategies. Emotionally
focused coping strategies varied with development. Internal control augmented whereas
distraction/recreation diminished. Problem focussed coping strategies remained stable
whereas maladaptive strategies were divided between those that increased (resignation,
rumination, aggression) and those that did not change (passive avoidance). Generally
speaking, there is a lack of coping strategies at the beginning and middle of
adolescence. The authors emphasized that the beginning of adolescence is a time of
increased normative stress. It is therefore important to have specific preventive
programs according to gender; female adolescents need to acquire coping strategies
such as distraction or positive self talk and adolescent males need to develop more prosocial behaviour.
Moksnes, Moljord, Espnes and Byrne (2010) investigated whether leisure time physical
activity moderated the relationship between stress and psychological functioning
(depression, anxiety, self-esteem) among Norwegian adolescents 13-18 years old (n =
1508). In preliminary analyses, girls reported higher scores of depression and anxiety
and boys scored higher on self-esteem. Interaction effects of gender by age were found
on all outcome variables. Stress was positively associated with depression and anxiety,
and negatively associated with self-esteem. Higher frequency of leisure time physical
activity was weakly associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety, and higher
levels of self-esteem. The primary analyses revealed no support for leisure time physical
activity as a moderator of the association between stress and psychological functioning.
Seiffge-Krenke (2000) traced 20 coping strategies in eight possible problematic
domains: studying, teachers, parents, peers, loving relationships, self, activity time, and
the future. At 15 years old, adolescents begin using adaptive and efficient coping
strategies; however female adolescents seem to react more to stress by internalized
symptoms whereas male adolescents react with externalized symptoms. Adolescents
report school stress in a homogeneous way, whereas family stress is perceived as more
complex and stressful. Different models were developed: a secure internal model
(positive towards self and others), a destructive model (negative towards others) or a
preoccupied model (constantly subjected to high stress).
Hess and Copeland (2001) predicted that adolescents who drop out of school would
report higher levels of stress and more frequent use dysfunctional coping strategies.
Stress was measured by the number of life events characterised by change and body
weight using the Adolescent Life Change Event Scale (ALCES) and the Adolescent
Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-COPE).
They concluded that
adolescents who seek professional support and who dedicate themselves to nonacademic social activities are more susceptible to drop out, whereas those who seek out
family interactions remain in school.
Frydenberg and Lewis (2000) examined adolescents’ productive coping strategies
through problem solving, non-productive coping strategies, and coping strategies by
reference to others. The first two coping strategies change over time. Between 12 and
14 years old, female and male adolescents report stable levels of weak coping strategies;
however boys report weak coping strategies two years later, whereas girls report even
weaker coping strategies at 16 years old. Five strategies, representing a combination of
functionality and dysfunctionality, remain stable between 12 and 14 years but increase
significantly after: seeking social support, problem solving, self-blame, keeping to
oneself, tension reduction. Self-blame and seeking social support diminish between 12
and 14 years old before reappearing at 16 years at the same level as at 12 years in boys,
whereas girls use these same strategies moderately between 12 and 14 years and more
between 14 and 16 years . Social action and spiritual support as well as physical
recreation follow a similar decrease between 12 and 14 years and thereafter remain
stable. Seeking professional support is lower at 14 years than at 12 years and toward 16
years for both boys and girls. The gender gap increases with age; girls tend to use more
dysfunctional strategies and claim to be less capable of coping than do boys between 14
and 16 years old.
Summary: conclusions of adolescents’ cognitive-emotional regulation
Similar to the emergent themes in the environmental stress category, adolescents cope
with and regulate interpersonal and academic stressors (Byrne et al., 2007). Several
studies reviewed here point to an evolution or development of coping strategies over
time. Coping strategies become more refined with age and experience. Emotional
regulation becomes emotional self regulation and there are differences between
internalizing and externalizing behaviour in adolescents, the former being more efficient
when coping with stress. A medical study by Roemmich et al (2011) suggests that
stress may be linked to disease in those who develop certain cardiovascular stress
reactivity, although the authors used some controversial methods to assess
cardiovascular activity. Haraldsson et al. (2008) claimed that by engaging in health
promotion activities adolescents can improve their sense of well-being related to stress.
Emotional eating is a dysfunctional coping strategy and affects not only obese
adolescents but all adolescents. Realistic adolescents regarding their control over life
events are less stressed; in fact these adolescents underestimate their coping skills,
thereby connoting a certain humility and realism as stated. Further, well adjusted
adolescents have higher self esteem and hence seem to cope better than vulnerable and
even resilient adolescents. Related to these self-beliefs, adolescents who are
perfectionists and who experience the inevitable stress of life tend to be more anxious
and depressed. Being too hard on oneself breeds negative effects. When adolescents
have effective and realistic beliefs, mastery and optimism, their stress and depression
diminish later on. This is in interesting developmental point that needs to be explored.
Articles reviewed here point towards a developmental change in adolescents whereby
adolescents control and understand their stressors better over time, which is a part of the
maturing process. Self-control is positively correlated with coping with stressors
whereas disengagement is negatively correlated with effective coping with stress. The
combination of stress, depression and anxiety lead to low self-esteem. Girls and boys
develop their self-regulatory strategies differently over time, with girls internalizing
more than boys, who tend to externalize within the stress and coping process. In fact,
internal control increases with age whereas distraction and recreation diminish. Those
adolescents who maintain their nonacademic activities are more susceptible to dropping
out of school, potentially leading to serious societal issues.
Conclusion
Academic performance is just one of the many challenges and stressors faced by
adolescents. The evolutionary and developmental process of stress and coping must be
examined more closely. Adolescents seem to refine their self-regulatory coping
strategies over time. Female and male adolescents experience high school differently
with females perceiving interpersonal stressors more acutely than male adolescents.
Adolescents who have experienced troubled upbringing have a more difficult time
coping with the stress of home and school life, and self-regulatory refinement is more
problematic. In fact, these adolescents may tend to drop out of school compared with
their peers. However, more research is necessary to examine the relationship between
self-regulation and dropout. Further, the link between stress, depression and anxiety is
salient and preventive programs for health and well being offer promising future
research avenues.
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