This study examines stressors, general stress levels, coping strategies, and subjective well-being in a sample of 144 ethnically diverse, urban adolescents (mean age of 13). The most frequently reported stressors include the death of a family member, feeling socially isolated, family financial problems, injury of a family member, and parents arguing. The most common coping strategies are seeking support, acceptance, active coping, using distraction, and venting. Positive and negative affect are related to many coping strategies, but only humor buffered the relationship between stress and negative affect. Venting exacerbates the negative relationship between stress and life satisfaction. Implications for helping ethnically diverse, urban adolescents cope with stressors and maintain well-being are discussed.
AllisonK.BurtonL.MarshallS.Perez-FebelsA.YarringtonJ.KirshL.B.Merriweather-DeVriesC. (1999). Life experiences among urban adolescents: Examining the role of context. Child Development, 40, 1017-1029.
2.
CantorN.SandersonC. (1999). Life task participation and well-being: The importance of taking part in daily life. In KahnemanD.DienerE.SchwartzN. (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 230-243). New York, NY: Russell Sage.
3.
CarverC. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol is too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, 92-100.
4.
ClarkeA. T. (2006). Coping with interpersonal stress and psychosocial health among children and adolescents: A meta-analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 11-24.
5.
CohenS.KamarckT.MermelsteinR. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396.
6.
CostaP. T.McCraeR. R. (1980). Influence of extraversion and neuroticism on subjective well-being: Happy and unhappy people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 668-678.
7.
DienerE.EmmonsE.LarsenR.GriffinS. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75.
8.
DienerE.SuhE. M.LucasR. E.SmithH. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276-302.
9.
DinsmoreB. D.StormshakE. A. (2003). Family functioning and eating attitudes and behaviors in at-risk early adolescent girls: The mediating role of intra-personal competencies. Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, Social, 22, 100-116.
10.
Dise-LewisJ. E. (1988). The life events and coping inventory: An assessment of stress in children. Psychosomatic Medicine, 50, 484-499.
11.
EdwardsL.LopezS. (2006). Perceived family support, acculturation, and life satisfaction in Mexican American youth: A mixed methods exploration. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 279-287.
12.
FolkmanS.LazarusR. S. (1988). Coping as a mediator of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 466-475.
13.
FrazierP. A.TixA. P.BarronK. E. (2004). Testing moderator and mediator effects in counseling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 115-134.
14.
GrantK. E.CompasB. E.StuhlmacherA. F.ThurmA. E.McMahonS. D.HalpertJ. A. (2003). Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: Moving from markers to mechanisms of risk. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 447-466.
15.
GrantK. E.CompasB. E.ThurmA. E.McMahonS. D.GipsonP. Y.CampbellA. J.KrochockK.. . . WesterholmR. I. (2006). Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: Evidence of moderating and mediating effects. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 257-283.
16.
LarsonR. W. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55, 170-183.
17.
LentR. (2004). Toward a unifying theoretical and practical perspective on well-being and psychosocial adjustment. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 482-509.
18.
NezuA.NezuC.BlissettS. (1988). Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressful events and psychological distress: A prospective analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 520-525.
19.
RasmussenA.AberM. S.BhanaA. (2004). Adolescent coping and neighborhood violence: Perceptions, exposure, and urban youths efforts to deal with danger. American Journal of Community Psychology, 33, 61-75.
20.
RuffinC. L. (1993). Stress and health: Little hassles vs. major life events. Australian Psychologist, 28, 201-208.
21.
Schaefer-McDanielN. (2007). “They be doing illegal things.” Early adolescents talk about their inner-city neighborhoods. Journal of Adolescent Research, 22, 413-436.
22.
SkinnerE. A.Zimmer-GembeckM. J. (2007). The development of coping. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 119-144.
23.
StewardR.JoH.MurrayD.FitzgeraldW.NeilD.FearF.HillM. (1998). Psychological adjustment and coping styles of urban African American high school students. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 26, 70-82.
24.
TolanP.Gorman-SmithD.HenryD.ChungK.HuntM. (2002). The relations of patterns of coping of inner-city youth to psychopathology symptoms. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 12, 423-449.
25.
WatsonD.ClarkL. A.TellegenA. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070.
26.
YarcheskiA.MahonN. (1999). The moderator-mediator role of social support in early adolescents. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 21, 685-698.
