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The Role of Coping Strategies in Understanding the Relationship Between Parental Support and Psychological Outcomes in Anxious Youth

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Abstract

The current study examined the moderating role of coping strategies on psychological outcomes at varying levels of parental support in a sample of clinically anxious youth. Youth (N = 174, mean age 11.89) completed the Children’s Coping Strategies Checklist, Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and Children’s Depression Inventory. Data was gathered at a large, university-based anxiety disorders treatment clinic. This nonexperimental design analyzed the use of active and avoidant coping strategies as a moderator of anxiety and depression, while controlling for parental support. Results revealed active coping strategies did moderate the relationship between parental support and anxiety, however, not as expected while the significant moderation role of avoidance coping was mixed. Findings showed that anxious youth with more parental support and more active coping were at risk for higher levels of anxiety, yet protected from higher depression. Avoidant coping strategies did moderate in a manner that was predicted for higher anxiety symptoms. Results suggest increased need for parental involvement in the treatment of anxiety disorders in youth.

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Funding

These data were collected as part of a larger, unfunded study at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Institute for Juvenile Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work, Pacific Lutheran University, 12180 Park Ave. S., Tacoma, WA, 98477, USA

    David Simpson

  2. Institute for Juvenile Research (MC 747), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1747 W. Roosevelt Rd. Suite 155, Chicago, IL, 60608, USA

    Liza Suarez & Lauren Cox

  3. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Ave., MC3077, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Sucheta Connolly

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Simpson, D., Suarez, L., Cox, L. et al. The Role of Coping Strategies in Understanding the Relationship Between Parental Support and Psychological Outcomes in Anxious Youth. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 35, 407–421 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-018-0531-y

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