Teaching coping to adolescents: When and to whom?

Abstract

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of adolescent coping in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. During the five-year period of the investigation, 168 students were tracked firstly to document the patterns of general coping behaviour of girls and boys at grade levels 7, 9, and 11, and secondly to determine what changes were apparent in their coping responses. Young people's coping was assessed using the Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS), an 80-item checklist that identifies 17 distinct coping strategies as well as a young person's professed inability to cope. Some interesting changes over time in students' usage of a number of coping strategies were found. Both boys and girls remain relativ..