Profiles of Coping Strategies in Resilient Adolescents

Abstract

To understand how resilient adolescents adapt to adverse situations, this study examined resilient adolescents and their coping strategies. Resilience is the phenomenon characterized by good outcomes despite serious threats to adaptation and/or development. The current study aimed to identify the coping strategy profiles that distinguish a resilient group from three other groups—struggling, competent, and vulnerable—specifically to differentiate the resilient group from the competent group. Descriptive discriminant analysis results indicated that resilient adolescents simultaneously utilized not only problem-focused but also the emotion-focused coping strategies. The competent group primarily used problem-focused coping, while the struggling group primarily used emotion-focused strategies. Finally, the vulnerable adolescents used neither problem-focused nor emotion-focused strategies. Practical implications of the results were discussed to guide professionals.