A Study of Stress, Stressors, and Coping Strategies among Middle School Adolescents

Fifty-four adolescents from a middle school in the Los Angeles area completed two self-report measures that examined their experience of stress and identified the stressors in their environment and the coping strategies they used to deal with these stressors. Gender differences were evident throughout the study, with girls indicating higher levels of stress and boys and girls reporting different behavioral and affective responses to stress. Although the sample as a whole evidenced moderately low levels of stress, school-related stressors were highest in frequency, followed by siblings and fathers. Students used coping strategies very infrequently and with a low frequency of success; they used adaptive coping strategies most often, particularly help seeking, relaxation, distraction, cognitive control, and affective release.