Publication year
2016
Citation Title
Social stressors, coping behaviors, and depressive symptoms: A latent profile analysis of adolescents in military families
Journal Name
Journal of Adolescence
Journal Volume
51
Page Numbers
133-143
DOI
10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.05.010
Summary
Adolescents in military families deal with stressors experienced by all adolescents as well as stressors inherent to having a Service member as a parent. This study explored the coping styles used by adolescents in Active Duty Army families. Findings suggest four unique coping strategies that were related to adolescents' adjustment.
Key Findings
Researchers identified four coping styles of adolescents in Active Duty Army families: disengaged (i.e., typically did not engage in many coping behaviors), troubled (i.e., tended to engage in mostly coping behaviors oriented toward other people), humor-intensive (i.e., were most likely to use humor as a coping strategy), and active (i.e., frequently engaged in all adaptive coping behaviors).
Adolescents were most likely to engage in active coping (40%) or humor-intensive coping (32%), which were associated with the lowest levels of symptoms of depression.
The use of troubled coping (by 24% of adolescents) was most strongly associated with increased symptoms of depression, while disengaged coping (used by 4% of adolescents) was associated with slightly increased symptoms of depression.
Implications for Program Leaders
Develop strengths-based programming for adolescents in military families that focuses on building resilience and adaptive coping strategies
Offer classes that teach parents in military families how to encourage their adolescents to use adaptive coping strategies
Create a mentoring program for military-connected youth in which youth can foster positive relationships with adults who can help them negotiate challenging situations
Implications for Policy Makers
Recommend training for professionals who work with military-connected youth regarding adaptive coping strategies
Promote the development of programs that enhance the resilience of adolescents in military families
Continue to support programs that help families as they encounter military-related stressors (e.g., relocations, deployment)
Methods
Participants were recruited from U.S. Army Installations in the U.S. and Europe through flyers, emails, radio announcements, and verbal announcements during family programs.
Surveys with questions about coping styles, sources of stress, and depressive symptoms were completed in a computer lab on the installations.
Data were analyzed to determine what types of coping styles were used and the relationship between coping styles and depressive symptoms.
Participants
Participants were 1,036 youth between 11 and 18 years old who had at least one parent who was an Active Duty Soldier.
Most (72%) of the sample were younger adolescents (between 11 and 14 years old), with 50% males and 50% females.
The adolescents were White (37%); Black (19%); Latino (11%); Native American (2%); Multiracial (20%); or another race/ethnicity (9%). There seems to be missing information from 2% of participants.
Limitations
Due to the cross-sectional nature of the data collected, it is unclear whether certain coping styles caused increased symptoms of depression, or increased symptoms of depression caused the use of certain coping styles.
Most participants lived on an Army installation; results may not be able to be generalized to those who do not live on an installation or those who are connected to a different military branch.
Researchers did not collect data regarding family structure, so it is unclear whether findings are limited to adolescents in certain types of families.
Avenues for Future Research
Utilize a longitudinal design to discover the long-term impact of certain coping styles
Replicate this research with adolescents in military families connected to other branches or living off of military installations
Collect information about adolescents’ family structure and examine its possible role in the use of different coping styles
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
We investigated the relationship between context-specific social stressors, coping behaviors, and depressive symptoms among adolescents in active duty military families across seven installations (three of which were in Europe) ( N = 1036) using a person-centered approach and a stress process theoretical framework. Results of the exploratory latent profile analysis revealed four distinct coping profiles: Disengaged Copers, Troubled Copers, Humor-intensive Copers, and Active Copers. Multinomial logistic regressions found no relationship between military-related stressors (parental separation, frequent relocations, and parental rank) and profile membership. Analysis of variance results revealed significant and meaningful differences between the coping profiles and depressive symptomology, specifically somatic symptoms, depressive affect, positive affect, and interpersonal problems. Post-hoc analyses revealed that Active Copers, the largest profile, reported the fewest depressive symptoms. Accordingly, frequent use of diverse, active coping behaviors was associated with enhanced resilience. Discussion is provided regarding the promotion of adaptive coping behaviors within this developmental period and the context of military family life.
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