Relationship of Coping Strategies to Subjective Well-Being among Adolescents

Interpersonal problem solving is a natural component of a person’s life. During adolescence, coping with experienced problems efficiently is one of the critical developmental tasks. These coping strategies differ from person to person. Previous research demonstrated that coping strategies are closely associated with psychological health. With this respect, the purpose of the current study was to examine the prediction of coping strategies of adolescents’ satisfaction with family relationships, positive affectivity, life satisfaction, and satisfaction with the relationship with significant others. The findings of the current study are expected to have a significant contribution for the developmental and preventive guidance and counseling activities targeted at adolescents’ developmental adaptation problems for the literatüre of “coping strategies” and “subjective well-being.” Research is conducted with survey method. The universe of the research was comprised of secondary and high school students in the city center of Konya. Kidcope Adolescent Version (Spirito, Stark Williams, 1988; Bedel, Işık Hamarta, 2014) and Adolescent Subjective Well-being Scale (Eryılmaz, 2009) were completed by 400 secondary and high school students selected by random cluster sampling method. Statistical analyses were conducted with pearson moment coefficient and regression analyses. Results indicated that there were moderate positive correlation between active coping and satisfaction with family relationships, positive affect, life satisfaction, and satisfaction with relationship with significant others; moderate negative correlation between negative coping and satisfaction with family relationships and positive affect; weak negative correlation between negative coping and life satisfaction and satisfaction with relationship with significant others. Besides, significant predictors of subjective well-being were active and negative coping whereas avoidant coping was not a significant predictor. In the light of these findings, the crucial role of active coping which represents constructive and functional coping strategy in enhancing the subjective well-being levels of adolescents was underlined. Overuse of negative coping may affect adolescents’ adaptation levels and may damage their psychological integrity. Thus, individual and group activities are suggested within preventive guidance and counseling services for adolescents to develop constructive and functional problem solving skills.