Coping Strategies in Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Children and adolescents deploy a diverse range of coping strategies to manage psychological stressors, broadly classified into problem-focused and emotion-focused approaches. Problem-focused strategies aim to address the source of stress through active engagement, while emotion-focused strategies seek to regulate the emotional response, sometimes via avoidance or distraction. Within these categories one distinguishes engagement coping—characterised by seeking support, planning and cognitive reframing—from disengagement coping, which involves denial, wishful thinking or withdrawal. Coping flexibility, or the capacity to shift adaptively between strategies, is increasingly recognised as a predictor of resilience. Developmental stage, family relationships and socio-cultural context shape the selection and effectiveness of coping strategies. Recent advances have explored coping profiles and their longitudinal trajectories, the mediating role of parental support and hope, and the impact of digital tools designed for self-management. Understanding these mechanisms is critical for informing prevention programmes, tailoring interventions and promoting positive mental health outcomes across diverse populations.

Research from Nature Portfolio

A longitudinal study conducted during the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic identified four distinct active–avoidant coping profiles in primary-school children: low active copers, high active copers, balanced copers and avoidant copers. Profiles characterised by higher active coping were associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression symptoms at baseline and follow-up, whereas balanced and avoidant profiles experienced greater emotional difficulties. Notably, avoidant copers demonstrated a steeper decline in depressive symptoms over six months, suggesting dynamic adaptation in the face of prolonged stress. These findings underscore the value of profiling individual coping repertoires to guide early interventions and to foster adaptive shifts in strategy use.

Coping Strategies in Child and Adolescent Mental Health publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in coping strategies in child and adolescent mental health across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Active coping: Direct efforts to tackle stressors through problem-solving, planning or cognitive reframing.

Avoidant coping: Efforts to evade stressors by denial, distraction or behavioural withdrawal.

Engagement coping: Strategies involving active involvement with stressors or emotional responses, such as seeking social support.

Disengagement coping: Strategies involving withdrawal from stressors, including denial or wishful thinking.

Resilience: The capacity to adapt positively in the face of adversity and maintain or restore psychological well-being.

References

1. Structural model of resilience based on parental support: the mediating role of hope and active coping. BMC Psychiatry (2023).
2. Parental Support and Adolescents’ Coping with Academic Stressors: A Longitudinal Study of Parents’ Influence Beyond Academic Pressure and Achievement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence (2023).
3. Active and avoidant coping profiles in children and their relationship with anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientific Reports (2022).
4. A Qualitative Study of How Adolescents’ Use of Coping Strategies and Support Varies in Line With Their Experiences of Adversity. Child & Youth Care Forum (2022).
5. Desired Features of a Digital Technology Tool for Self-Management of Well-Being in a Nonclinical Sample of Young People: Qualitative Study. JMIR Mental Health (2018).