Abstract:

Adolescence is a developmental period of special interest in that it is characterised by crucial physical, psychological and social transformations, many of which elicit experiences of emotional arousal, thus increasing the risk for various forms of psychopathology (e.g. affective and behavioral disorders).

The nature and extent of adolescents' use of coping strategies (COPE) were tested with a large sample of Italian adolescents, 13 to 20 years old, who completed a survey.

Participants' aspects of psychosocial well-being, and its relation to their strategy use, was assessed by measuring health perception, life satisfaction, positive and negative felt emotions, emotional and social loneliness.

Results:
Adolescents were found to use the healthier strategies of Seeking social support, Problem Orientation, Transcending Orientation, and Positive attitude (COPE) more than the less functional strategy of Avoidance. Preference for strategy types formed a coherent pattern - e.g., Problem Orientation was positively associated with Positive attitude. Preferences for strategy types were significantly associated to wellbeing levels in the expected direction. Avoidance was found to be the most important coping strategy, negatively associated with all well-being indicators, for instance predicting greater Emotional loneliness and lower perceived Social loneliness; Seeking social support and use of Problem solving were associated with lesser Social loneliness and higher levels of Positive emotions and Life satisfaction. Interestingly, although the obtained result pattern was similar across three age groups and across sex, interesting gender by age differences were observed.

Conclusion:
Results show that use of, and preferences for, more or less functional coping strategies impact on emotional well-being (with gender differences), and suggest that a better understanding of these processes in adolescence may help us understand individual differences in mental health and adjustment.

Keywords:

Adolescence, coping strategies, psychosocial well-being, Italian.