Coping strategies in adolescents with non-vital emotional experiences

Abstract

Our aim was to study the relationship of coping strategies choice and anti-vital experiences and the overall emotional well-being in adolescents. In October 2012, we surveyed 145 students of Moscow secondary school (54 boys, 91 girls) aged 12 to 16 years. The survey was conducted by a block of psychodiagnostic methods, testing emotional disadaptation, presence of suicidal thoughts and ways of coping with stressful situations. It was found that 22,8% of the participants reported presence of suicidal thoughts. Specific to adolescents with suicidal attitude were high social and interpersonal anxiety and severity of non-adaptive coping strategies, such as “self-incrimination” and “comparing oneself with the others”.

Keywords

• adolescents
• suicide
• anti-vital experiences
• coping strategies
• emotional disadaptation