Coping in adolescent-mother conflictual interactions as a predictor of adolescent depression

This longitudinal study investigated the association between adolescent depressive symptoms and adolescents\u27 behavioral coping during a conflictual family interaction task. The primary hypothesis was that adolescents\u27 use of behavioral-avoidance coping predicts concurrent and future adolescent depressive symptoms. Four secondary hypotheses were: (a) adolescents\u27 use of behavioral-approach coping is negatively related to depressive symptoms, (b) adolescents\u27 use of behavioral-avoidance coping uniquely predicts depressive symptoms, and thus, does not predict externalizing symptomatology, (c) adolescent boys use behavioral-approach coping to a greater extent than adolescent girls, and (d) adolescents model their mothers\u27 coping strategies. Seventy adolescents engaged in videotaped conflict interactions with their mothers and filled out questionnaires. Trained coders watched thirty-four fifteen-second segments of these interactions and rated adolescents and mothers on behavioral indicators of avoidance and approach coping during each segment. The hypotheses that adolescents\u27 use of behavioral-avoidance and behavioral-approach coping predicts adolescent depressive symptoms were not confirmed. Gender differences in behavioral coping strategies were not supported. As predicted, adolescents modeled their mothers\u27 behavioral coping. The influence of contextual characteristics of interpersonal stress on adolescent behavioral coping strategies is highlighted and clinical implications are discussed