Stress Within Families: Some Questions and Possibilities

Individual children's capacity to cope with stressors may be predicated by the stress-coping mechanisms utilised by their families There appears to be a paucity of information about families' responses to stressors. It is postulated that there are significant questions about family coping mechanisms, and that research directed towards these questions may provide information of use in programmes which aim to facilitate the development of effective coping mechanisms in children. Assumptions about the delineation of coping mechanisms, the structure of family units, the designation of stressors., and the study of human behaviour are discussed. A brief outline is provided on a research project aimed at defining and analysing family coping behaviour, and at differentiating families that cope effectively with stressors from those that do not. Some initial impression of findings are presented.     

Maladaptive Coping as a Mediator of Family Stress

Family members of women substance users may be at risk for stress-related problems. Family coping responses may affect outcomes for both families and women in treatment. Eighty-two women in treatment for substance use disorders (56 with comorbid psychiatric conditions) and 82 family members were interviewed. Stressors related to women's disorders were significantly related to increased family member burden. Women's behavioral problems predicted greater family member Worry, Displeasure, and Impact. Extent of women's drug or alcohol use predicted greater family member Stigma and Impact. Family member maladaptive coping partially mediated relationships between family member stressors and family member Displeasure and Impact. Family member maladaptive coping also functioned as a moderator between the stressors and Impact.     

Coping with Family Conflict and Economic Strain: The Adolescent Perspective

This study tested two models of family economic problems and adolescent psychological adjustment. Using adolescents’ survey data and information regarding school lunch program enrollment, the associations among family SES, perceived economic strain, family conflict, and coping responses were examined in a sample of 364 adolescents from rural New England. Two theoretical models were tested using structural equation modeling — one tested coping as a mediator of the stress – psychopathology relation and the other tested coping as a moderator. Results revealed that family economic hardship was related to aggression and anxiety/depression primarily through two proximal stressors: perceived economic strain and conflict among family members. Family conflict partially mediated the relation between economic strain and adolescent adjustment, and coping further mediated the relation between family conflict and adjustment. These analyses identified two types of coping that were associated with fewer anxiety/depression and aggression problems in the face of these stressors — primary and secondary control coping. Although primary and secondary control coping were associated with fewer adjustment problems, youth who were experiencing higher amounts of stress tended to use less of these potentially helpful coping strategies and used more of the potentially detrimental disengagement coping. The models did not differ according to the age or gender of the adolescents, nor whether they lived with two parents or fewer. No support was found for coping as a moderator of stress. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research involving coping with economic stressors are reviewed.     

Peer Stress in Preadolescence: Linking Physiological and Coping Responses With Social Competence

This study examined associations between real‐time physiological and coping responses in the context of salient peer stress experiences in preadolescence, as well as independent and interactive associations linking physiological and coping responses with social competence. Physiological responses included respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity (RSAR) and skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) during laboratory‐based peer‐evaluative stress experiences. Engaged and disengaged coping strategies were assessed with real‐time responses to peer‐evaluative stress (assessed immediately following peer‐evaluative stress experiences in the laboratory) and with questionnaire‐based responses to peer victimization. Analyses consistently revealed associations between lower RSAR (lower vagal withdrawal) and lower teacher‐reported social competence among preadolescents with disengaged (and low engaged) coping responses to peer‐evaluative stress in the laboratory, as well as disengaged coping responses to peer victimization.     

Coping With LGBT and Racial–Ethnic‐Related Stressors: A Mixed‐Methods Study of LGBT Youth of Color

This study examines how racial–ethnic minority lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth cope with both racial–ethnic and LGBT‐related stress. Within a sample of 213 LGBT youth of color, the present study presents (1) quantitative and qualitative results from an approach and avoidance–based measure of parental racial coping socialization across six conversation domains, and (2) qualitative responses regarding LGBT stressors and associated coping strategies. The emphasis on approach versus avoidance varied across the racial–ethnic conversation domains. However, both racial–ethnic‐ and LGBT‐related coping strategies emphasized a combination of cognitive and behavioral strategies. Similarities and differences also existed in the types of stressors encountered across racial–ethnic and LGBT statuses. We discuss the potential for coping skill transfer across these minority statuses.     

Stress,Coping, and Mental Health Differences among Homeless People

People who are chronically homeless are assumed to have higher rates of mental health problems than episodically or new‐entry homeless individuals. It is unclear to what extent early‐life and current stressors account for this disadvantage. Guided by cumulative disadvantage theory and stress research, we analyze data from a national study of the US homeless population to examine how stressors and coping resources throughout the life course are implicated in differences among homeless people in psychiatric disorders and alcohol or other drug abuse disorders. Logistic regression analysis reveals that new‐entry homeless persons are less likely than their chronically and episodically homeless counterparts to have current psychiatric disorders. This is explained by stressors and coping resources experienced in childhood and during adult homeless spells. Alcohol and other drug abuse is common but comparable across the three homeless types and shares an association with selected stress and coping measures. Findings lend credibility to an accumulation of risks perspective, highlighting how past as well as contemporaneous stressors are related to the mental health of homeless people.     

Family Conflict in Childhood and Adolescence and Depressive Symptoms in Emerging Adulthood: Mediation by Disengagement Coping

Exposure to family conflict in childhood increases risk for later life psychological maladjustment. The family environment shapes the development of coping strategies used to manage interpersonal stressors, representing a pathway through which adverse family experiences impact later emotional functioning. In 2 studies, we evaluated engagement and disengagement coping as mediators of the relation between family conflict in childhood and depressive symptoms in young adulthood. Study 1 included participants from continuously married families exposed to higher and lower quality childhood family environments and found that disengagement partially mediated the relation between family conflict and depressive symptoms. Study 2 examined these relations among emerging adults who experienced parental divorce. Results indicated that disengagement coping fully mediated the relation between family conflict and depression. Engagement did not emerge as a mediator in either study. Elevated family conflict across varying family structures might be associated with poor adjustment via disengaged responses to stress.     

Still stressful after all these years: a review of lesbians' and bisexual women's minority stress

This article reviews the conceptualization of, and empirical literature on, lesbians' and bisexual women's sexual minority stress. In much of the early research, the experiences of sexual minority women and men were considered together (or women's experiences were inferred from men's), obscuring important differences. There is empirical and theoretical justification to consider the experiences of women and men separately and to develop and evaluate comprehensive models of sexual minority stress for women. Existing conceptualizations of sexual minority stress that include assessment of discrimination, victimization, harassment, concealment, internalized homonegativity may be applied, and perhaps adapted, to facilitate understanding of the unique stressors associated with women's sexual minority status. Future research must include mediators of the relationship between stressors and outcomes such as individual (e.g., coping and resilience) and group (e.g., social support, identification with a sexual minority community) resources. It is also essential to understand what factors may buffer the deleterious effects of these stressors.     

A different kind of caregiving support group

1. Support groups are an important and frequent source of help for caregivers of older adults who experience a high degree of physical and emotional stress. However, not every participant feels comfortable speaking in a group setting. 2. Writing is a form of emotional expression that has been shown to produce both physiological and psychological benefits. Use of narrative writing as an adjunct to traditional group therapy methods has not been studied. 3. In this pilot project, use of writing within the support group format provided caregivers with an additional strategy for coping with the stressors of caregiving. Participants' physical and mental health improved significantly after participating in the group. 4. Therapeutic writing can be used independently or in a group to enable emotional expression. Nurses who work with caregivers can help develop interventions that use narrative writing as a method to improve coping.     

The Experience of Forced Relocation as Expressed in Children’s Drawings

Forced relocation of people from their homes due to changes in borders, war, or natural disasters has been recognized in the literature as a stressor which has affected communities throughout the world. However, the responses of latency-aged children to these stressors have not been sufficiently addressed. In an attempt to fill that gap, this article presents a phenomenological and diagnostic analysis of drawings made by Israeli children aged 7–9 who were evacuated from localities in the Gaza Strip area. The drawings indicate that the experience of forced relocation remained a significant one for the children, even 2 years after the event. The children’s drawings reveal the difficulties they experienced, as well as the coping strategies that they used to work through the experience and adjust to the situation. The drawings indicate that with the passage of time their perceptions of the evacuation were not traumatic. The main coping strategies reflected in the children’s drawings are defense and distancing mechanisms, as well as family and community support. In addition, the children included numerous ideological statements in their drawings, which evidently reflect an attempt to understand the meaning of the relocation, and emphasize their group affiliation. As a result, it is important to include the components of ideology, community, and family in evaluations and psychosocial interventions in order to promote the children’s constructive coping.     

Implementing a Trauma Recovery Framework for Youths in Residential Treatment

This paper describes an intervention designed to address the special needs of youths with histories of maltreatment and exposure to family and community violence. The primary components of the model include an enhanced therapeutic community environment and a psychoeducation program that is aimed at changing non-adaptive cognitive and behavioral patterns which developed as means of coping with traumatic experiences. The implementation of the model and proximal effects on the therapeutic communities and youths are being examined in comparison to standard residential services. Initial perceptions of staff illustrate the challenges in applying an intervention that calls for changing the organizational culture.     

Longitudinal Relations of Economic Hardship and Effortful Control to Active Coping in Latino Youth

How Latino youth cope with stressors may have implications for their adjustment. We examined how a temperamental characteristic (effortful control) and a contextual factor (economic hardship) were associated with Latino youth's coping. Individual differences in effortful control, a core facet of self‐regulation, may contribute to coping as effortful control is consistently linked to adaptive behaviors during adolescence. We examined relations of effortful control and economic hardship to active coping in a sample of Mexican‐origin youth (N = 674) across three time points (fifth to ninth grades). Although economic hardship negatively predicted coping and effortful control, effortful control positively predicted coping (controlling for prior levels). Findings support a resilience perspective by suggesting that effortful control may contribute to coping and thus counteract the negative effects of economic hardship.     

Proactive coping with discrimination: A mediator between ethnic-racial socialization and Latinx youth's internalizing symptoms

There is a dearth of knowledge in the coping literature on how minoritized youth cope with racism-related stressors and the predictors of effective coping responses. This two-wave study examined the direct and indirect effects of ethnic-racial socialization on depressive and anxiety symptoms via proactive coping with discrimination in a community sample of 135 Latinx adolescents (M_age = 16, SD = 1.27; 59% female). Results indicate that cultural socialization was related to higher use of proactive coping with discrimination 6 months later, which in turn, was related to fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms. There were no direct or indirect effects between preparation for bias and mental health outcomes.     

Triangulation of self-report and investigator-rated coping indices as predictors of psychological stress: a longitudinal investigation among public utility workers

The aims of the present study were to: (a) determine if self-reported coping is consistent with conceptually-equivalent investigator-rated coping indices; (b) establish which types of coping are associated with psychological stress; and (c) establish whether using investigator-rated in addition to self-report coping indices to predict stress outcomes is beneficial in a real life context of worker's stressors. To fulfil these aims, a longitudinal investigation was conducted among 40 Canadian workers from the public utility sector. Results from semi-structured interviews about their worst current stressors revealed main effects for some coping types as assessed with investigator-rated indices, whereas no main effects were observed with self-report coping indices. Still, self-report and investigator-rated coping indices together significantly predicted follow-up stress. Psychological stress was most strongly predicted by investigator-rated behavioural approach. While self-report cognitive approach predicted lower psychological stress, investigator-rated cognitive approach predicted greater stress. Findings underline the importance of using both types of coping indices to predict outcome.     

What's Race Got to Do With It? Racial Socialization's Contribution to Black Adolescent Coping

While youth generally experience stressors from developmental milestones, Black youth also face racialized stressors. Racial socialization has been found to help Black youth cope with racialized stressors, but research has yet to show its contribution to coping beyond general socialization practices. This study examines how racial socialization contributes beyond that of general coping socialization to coping behaviors. Fifty‐eight third–eighth‐grade (M_age = 11.3, SD = 1.54) youth reported general coping socialization and racial socialization practices and coping behaviors. Results indicate that for engagement coping, racial socialization messages contributed significantly to parent‐provided engaged socialization strategies. Implications are considered for the ways in which Black youth experience stress and require culturally specific practices for successful coping with frequently encountered stressors.     

Social work students in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: correlates of post-disaster substance use as a negative coping mechanism

Social work students’ post-disaster coping while in the field is an important workforce issue with ethical implications. The current study utilized secondary data collected in a previous study examining post-disaster alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among social work student volunteers (N = 416) in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (HKR). The current sample included participants from the original study who responded to a single-item measure of AOD use as a negative coping mechanism (N = 290). The present study examined potential explanatory variables of AOD use in the aftermath of HKR, including demographic (age, gender, and race) and psychosocial characteristics (hurricane-related stressors, previous traumatic stressors, and post-traumatic stress). The multivariate logistic regression model distinguished between students who never or rarely used AOD and those who used AOD often to cope with HKR, accounting for 24% of model variance. Social work students who report post-disaster AOD use may risk experiencing additional, trauma-related vulnerabilities, should be further assessed, and provided necessary specialized supports to enable their well-being and to prevent impaired practice.     

Single Parent Widows:

This paper examines the stressors, appraisal of be- reavement, coping, resources, grieving responses and health of four types of single widow parents: widows raising dependent children; widows raising a handicapped child; independent older widows with children; and dependent, ill, older widows with a child. A review of literature on single parent widow families and data from the authors research on single parent widows served as a basis for this paper. Major gaps in knowledge include: limited research on single parent widow families including longitudinal and theory-based research; findings which are based on small samples of single parent widows who are often mixed with other single parent types; little research on single parent widows from Black, Hispanic and other ethnic groups; and few studies on resources used by widows. A secondary analysis of data from the authors research indicated characteristics of high- risk, vulnerable, and healthy single parent widow families. High-risk single parent widow families are characterized by: presence of mul- tiple stressors; intense grieving; appraisal of bereavement as a threat or harmful loss; use of less adaptive coping; limited use of resources;and poor health. Characteristics of vulnerable single parent widow families include: presence of stressors including an unresolved grieving process; negative appraisals of bereavement with hope for a more positive appraisal in the future; limited coping abilities; use of some resources such as helpful social supports; and less than op- timum health which can improve with intervention. Positive mean- ings of bereavement, use of adaptive ways of coping, a normal grieving process, use of many resources, and good health are charac- teristics which are prevalent in healthy single parent widow families. Themes in common to all four family types were: the grieving pro- cess; changes in roles and responsibilities; employment; loneliness; dating and remarriage; and caregiver stress. Directions for future research and implications for family professionals are discussed.     

Sexual Minority Women and Alcohol: Intersections between drinking, relational contexts, stress and coping

Few studies explore sexual minority women's experiences and perceptions of alcohol. Qualitative interviews were conducted with six sexual minority women who reported having sought help for alcohol problems in the past and six who did not. Themes emerged in two broad areas: stressors that contributed to heavy or problem drinking and factors that enhanced coping and reduced both stress and problem use. Alcohol use across groups was framed in terms of social context (e.g., bar patronage), stress management, and addiction. The findings of the study underscore the importance of considering the role of alcohol in managing stress as well coping factors that may inform social service interventions.     

Adolescent Perceptions of Interparental Conflict, Stressors, and Coping as Predictors of Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction

Using family stress theory, this study examined the relationship between adolescent reports of selected demographic variables (gender, age, family form), interparental conflict (style, content, intensity, resolution), stress due to the pileup of stressors, coping strategies (social support, detrimental coping), and adolescent family life satisfaction. The sample was comprised of 155 adolescents ranging from 14 to 18 years of age who completed self-report questionnaires at one of three rural Oklahoma high schools. Four dimensions of interparental conflict (overt conflict style, conflict about childrearing, conflict about family roles/finances, conflict resolution), stress due to pileup, social support coping, and detrimental coping were significantly related to family life satisfaction. Adolescent age was positively related to family life satisfaction. Within the scope of family stress theory, scholars have addressed how the combination of stressors and coping strategies relates to the adaptation of individuals within family systems (McCubbin and Patterson 1983). Further, investigations of the relationship of parental divorce to well-being in children and adolescents suggest that interaction patterns within various family forms may be more fruitful in explaining the adaptation of youth than parental marital status (Demo 1992). The perception by youth of conflict between their parents (i.e., interparental conflict) has emerged as a key family stressor that has the potential to explain variation in adolescent adaptation in a variety of family forms (Buehler, Krishnakumar, Anthony, Tittsworth, and Stone 1994). Stressor events for adolescents such as interparental conflict generally do not occur in isolation. Rather, they exist within the context of other stressors such as economic stress, difficulties at school, or normative developmental tasks for families with adolescents (e.g., changing family roles to allow greater adolescent autonomy; McCubbin and Patterson 1986). Further, considerable variation exists in the coping strategies (e.g., social support, avoidance) that adolescents use in response to stress (McCubbin and Patterson 1986). Finally, previous research shows variation between certain demographic variables and adolescent adaptation. Thus, the current study was developed to examine how selected demographic variables (gender, age, family form), adolescent perceptions of interparental conflict (style, content, intensity, degree of resolution), stress based on the pileup of stressor events, and coping strategies relate to adolescent satisfaction with family life (one indicator of adaptation).     

HIV-infected woman. Illness cognition assessment.

1. Special attention is particularly important in addressing the mental health needs of HIV-infected women. These needs may involve issues such as concerns about present or future pregnancy; child-rearing, often as single parents; poverty, illicit drug use or addiction; and the potential lack of support services. 2. Diagnosis of HIV infection in women may be overlooked, as the clinical signs that routinely trigger the suspicion of HIV illness in men are often interpreted to reflect depression or psychological factors, such as stress or overwork, rather than raise the suspicion of HIV infection in women. 3. Understanding a woman's illness cognition is an important component of designing strategies that can enhance coping. The picture a woman generates regarding her illness is a composite of her experiences and responses, and determines to a large extent what she will do in response to her illness.