The aim of this study was to investigate the personal stressors and patterns of coping in adolescents living with a chronic illness. Primary objectives were to: (1) identify salient stressors and to determine the relation between cognitive appraisals and the degree to which a stressor is perceived as illness-related or typical of adolescence; (2) assess differences in coping strategies used for illness-related and other types of stressors; (3) investigate if gender or age influences the frequency, cognitive appraisals or types of stressors reported, or the nature and the overall number of coping strategies reported. A secondary objective was to assess the extent to which health-related quality of life is related to stressors, coping strategies and coping in general.
In the current study, 193 chronically ill adolescents listed up to 20 personal stressors and rated the frequency, control over the cause, perceived impact, control over the outcome, and the extent to which each stressor was related to the chronic illness, and typical of adolescence. Adolescents reported coping strategies (Kidcope) for one self-identified illness related and one non-illness related stressor and for two stressors standardized for the entire sample. Participants also completed a global measure of adolescent coping (A-COPE) and a health-related quality of life measure (Rand 36-item Health Survey).
Results showed that the most frequently identified stressors were similar to those reported for healthy adolescents. Moreover, stressors were rated as more typical of adolescence than they were illness-related. Although perceived control over the cause was negatively related to stressor impact for self-identified stressors, neither controllability ratings nor impact were significantly correlated with illness or typical ratings. Considerable consistency in coping was found across self-identified stressors only. Females employed more social support and emotional regulation than did males. Although the number of stressors and the perceived impact of stressors increased with age, consistent age differences in coping were not obtained. Poorer general health perception was associated with greater impact for illness stressors. Perceived controllability over the outcome was associated with increased approach coping for both self-generated and standard stressors. Study limitations, suggestions for future research, and clinical implications are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29063 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Pontefract, Amanda |
| Contributors | Manion, Ian, |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 206 p. |
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