This study examines the relationship between self-concept and coping strategies of 457 academically gifted adolescents, aged 10 to 16 years. Frequently used strategies indicated that adolescents assumed responsibility for dealing with stressors and took action-focused approaches rather than ignoring problems. As predicted by the model of social and emotional adjustment (Sowa & May, 1996), six scales of the Adolescent Coping Scale (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1990)—focus on the positive, work hard and achieve, focus on solving the problem, seek social support, keep to self, and seek to belong—predicted a significant proportion of the variance in general (27%) and nonacademic (25%) self-concept scales of the Self-Description Questionnaire II (Marsh, 1992).
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