DIMENSIONS OF COPING IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE - A COMPARISON BETWEEN GERMAN AND AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS

A well-known distinction in the literature on coping concerns two basi c coping orientations, namely, approach and avoidance. Approach activi ties aim at reducing or altering the events producing stress, avoidanc e coping is oriented away from threat. The present study investigates these coping orientations in American and German adolescents. Coping w as measured by a special questionnaire which assesses the use of diffe rent coping strategies in three problem areas. Afterwards, these copin g strategies were factor-analyzed. The result of this analysis consist ed in an approach and an avoidance factor for both the German and the American adolescents. Results further indicate that the American adole scents have significantly higher values in active and avoidant coping than the German subjects. Moreover, in both samples girls use approach -oriented coping significantly more often than do boys.