A Comparison of the Coping Styles Used by Parents and Their Adolescent Children

Abstract

This aim of this study was to compare the coping styles of adolescent males and females with the coping styles of their fathers and mothers respectively, extending on previous research by Lade, Frydenberg and Poole (1998) that compared the coping styles of older adolescent females with their mothers. To date, there has been a lack of clarity about how coping skills are acquired and this study helps to bridge a gap in the literature by directly comparing coping styles of parents with their children. Year 7 (n = 4; M age = 12) and Year 11 (n = 16; M age = 16) students, as well as their parent of the same gender, completed the Adolescent Coping Scale. Paired t tests and correlations revealed that adolescent children do not simply imitate the coping strategies used by their parents. Predictable age and gender-related differences were found between the parent and child groups, indicating that intra-individual and developmental factors may be a better determinant of adolescent coping than parent behaviour.