Adolescents’ Coping Strategies during the First Year of COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The coping styles mature throughout adolescence, representing one of the indicators of positive psychological well-being. Previous research has shown that adolescents use a variety of coping strategies to face both everyday stressors and major life events. The COVID-19 pandemic could be considered a prolonged crisis, which entails a critical initial event, followed by daily hassle after an adaptation period. The Response to Stress Model proved to be a useful framework for understanding the coping process during the pandemic, distinguishing between primary (altering the situation) and secondary (adapting to a situation) engagement/approach coping versus disengagement/avoidance coping. This study aimed to identify adolescents’ adaptive coping strategies, following their cognitive appraisal of experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were asked to write about their experiences during the pandemic and the narratives obtained online were subsequently organised using thematic analysis. The initial sample consisted of 70 adolescents’ narratives. However, only those who unambiguously reported using a coping strategy were selected for the analysis. The final sample included 50 participants (7 male and 43 female) aged 14-25 (M = 20), both high school and university students. Participants recognised various aspects of the pandemic as challenging: fear of infection, difficulties regarding online school, curfew and lockdown, missing experiences, peer isolation, family quarrels, worsening of the pandemic, other peoples’ suffering, and inconsistent media reports. They experienced worry, fear, sadness, frustration, fatigue, helplessness, anxiety, confusion, or distrust, which consequently activated various coping strategies. Thematic analysis was conducted on a total of 132 coded segments, guided by both an inductive and a deductive approach, based on the Response to Stress Model. Coping strategies identified in the narratives were sorted into seven main themes (frequencies refer to the total number of participants who used that coping strategy): I. proactivity (new everyday activities - 17, physical activities - 8, volunteering - 2); II. focusing on the positive (personal perspective - 21, social comparison - 5); III. acceptance & adaptation to the situation (19); IV. hope for the future & quick return to normal (15); V. focusing on here & now (7); VI. stress avoidance (8); and VII. humour (1). In terms of the proposed theoretical model, participants predominantly relied on secondary engagement/approach coping i.e. adapting to a stressor through positive thinking, cognitive restructuring, distractions and acceptance. Since the pandemic situation was seen as uncontrollable, the use of primary engagement coping strategies, especially problem solving, was probably very limited, if not impossible. Only two of the strategies can be considered disengagement coping. On the one hand, stress avoidance shielded adolescents from distress caused by inconsistent and overwhelming media reports, while hope for the future could occasionally be characterised as wishful thinking, expecting everything to work itself out. To conclude, the COVID-19 pandemic imposed specific challenges for adolescents, which were mainly managed by ‘changing the perspective’ through secondary engagement coping strategies. An important source of adolescents’ resilience is their psycho-physical vitality, allowing them a quick and flexible adoption of coping strategies even in the face of a global crisis.