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Depression and social anxiety in children: differential links with coping strategies
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 18:42 authored by Mark Wright, Robin BanerjeeRobin Banerjee, Willemijn Hoek, Carolien Rieffe, Sheida NovinBackground: Strategies that children use for coping with stressors are known to be related to emotional adjustment, but not enough is understood about specific links with social anxiety and depression. The present investigation tested differentiated associations of social anxiety and depression with specific types of coping strategies, and evaluated the direction of these associations over time. Methods: In Study 1, 404 children aged 8-13 years completed a coping scale modified from Kochenderfer-Ladd and Skinner (2002) in order to evaluate factor structure and subscale internal consistency. In Study 2, 270 8-11-year-old children completed depression and social anxiety scales, a sociometric survey, and the coping scale from Study 1, with a follow-up timepoint 9 months later. Results: In Study 1, factor analysis revealed six internally consistent coping subscales. In Study 2, social anxiety and depression were found to have distinctive longitudinal associations with subsequent coping strategies. Decreased problem-solving, social support-seeking, and distraction were uniquely predicted by depression but not by social anxiety. Internalising coping was a stronger outcome of social anxiety, and increased externalising was uniquely predicted by depression. There was also some evidence for a moderating role of peer relations. However, none of the coping strategies predicted changes in depression or social anxiety over the two timepoints. Conclusions: These results highlight the impact that emotional adjustment may have on childrens coping strategies, and clarify important distinctions between social anxiety and depression in relation to coping. Keywords: social anxiety, depression, coping, peer relations, longitudinal
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Journal of Abnormal Child PsychologyISSN
0091-0627Publisher
Springer VerlagExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
38Page range
405-419Pages
15.0Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-06Usage metrics
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