PARTICULARITIES OF ADOLESCENTS’ COPING: THE GENDER ASPECT

Abstract

Purpose. The article presents the results of research of gender aspects of coping behavior and hardiness of 15–16 years old adolescents in the context of social and political society instability. The analysis of the obtained data allowed to outline strategies for preserving and strengthening the psychological health of adolescents and for prevention of emotional and behavioral disorders.

Methods. We have used the following diagnostic tools to fulfill our research goals: the “The Hardiness Scale” (S. Maddie, in adaptation by D. Leontiev, O. Raskazova); methods of diagnostics of the life style index (R. Plutchik, H. Kelierman, H. Conte, in adaptation of L. Vasserman, O. Yeryshev and etc.); the “World Assumptions Scale” (R. Janoff-Bulman, in adaptation by M. Padun, A. Kotelnikovoj). Мethods of processing empirical data were Student’s t-test.

Results. It has been established that girls have a more optimistic attitude towards the world, surrounding people and themselves, than boys; demonstrate a more adaptive style of coping and use more mature psychological defense mechanisms, which is an important basis of them being higher in hardiness comparing to boys.

Boys have reliably higher general tension of all psychological defenses than girls, which determines the formation of a less adaptive coping style comparing to girls, and leads, in general, to their lower level of hardiness.

Conclusions. We believe that the strategy of preserving and strengthening the adolescents’ psychological health and prevention of emotional and behavioral disorders should be built in several directions: development of hardiness components (mainly involvement and risk taking); formation of basic beliefs that the world is full of meaning and each person is valuable per se; development of instrumental coping strategies; formation of mature defense mechanisms; evaluation of the objective possibilities of coping with a situation when confronted with difficulties in choosing coping behavior: if a stressor can be influenced, choose instrumental coping; if a stressful situation cannot be changed, an adequate way of coping is avoidance; if it is impossible neither to avoid the situation, nor to influence it – adequate is emotionally-focused coping, cognitive reassessment of the situation or use of psychological protection.