Depression is a psychiatric disorder associated with severe impairment in physical,
social and role functioning, and with higher health care utilization. Experiencing an event that
causes physical or psychological stress may substantially increase a person's chances of
developing depression. Coping has been defined as a response aimed at diminishing the
physical, emotional and psychological burden that is associated with stressful life events.
Coping is considered one of the core concepts in health psychology and is strongly associated
with the regulation of emotions throughout the stress period and thus it is important that it is
understood, especially in the South African context of future morbidity.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between
coping self–efficacy strategies and depression in an African context. Participants consisted of
a convenience sample of 2 198 participants from both rural and urban areas. The rural group
consisted of 182 adolescent Further Education and Training (FET) students between the ages
of 16 and 21 years, and the urban group consisted of another 2 016 adolescent FET students
between the ages of 16 and 21 years. Participants from both groups completed measurements
on coping and depression. Two self–report measures were used: the Coping Self–Efficacy
Scale (CSE) to determine a person's confidence or perceived self–efficacy in performing
coping behaviors when facing life challenges or threats and the Patient Health Questionnaire
(PHQ9) to measure depression severity. Descriptive analysis results indicated that a relationship existed between coping selfefficacy
strategies and depression and that levels of depression were very similar for both
rural (9.23) and urban (9.25) groups. Coping strategies were very different in rural and urban
areas; rural participants only used problem–focused coping and stop unpleasant thoughts and
emotions, while urban participants used all three coping self–efficacy strategies: problemfocused
coping, stopping unpleasant thoughts and emotions and support from friends and
family. Rural participants did not use support from friends and family as a coping selfefficacy
strategy; possibly due to the different relationships people living in rural areas have
with one another, as opposed to the relationships of people living in urban areas. Rural people
may not deem it socially acceptable to ask friends or family members or help when struggling
with various stressors. Alternatively, rural areas may be more depleted of personal resources
due to the strong urbanization process going on.
It was concluded that there is an important relationship between coping strategies and
level of depression, and in this study this relationship was found to be different in some ways
for rural and urban groups. The results of this study have great implications for further
research and clinical practice. / Thesis (M.A. (Research Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/6532 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Cronje, Anneke |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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