BackHome
Refresh: OffView Personal Schedule
Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

The Development of Coping Mechanisms in Relation to Parental and Peer Attachment Among Low-Income Urban Youth in Single-Parent or Dual-Parent Households

Wed, April 7, 11:45am to 12:45pm EDT (11:45am to 12:45pm EDT), Virtual

Abstract

In the face of the adversities that are associated with economic poverty, such as a lack of access to adequate mental health institutions (Braveman & Gruskin, 2003), the ability to maintain adaptive coping mechanisms is considered to be protective in the development of the affected youth (Evans & Kim, 2013). An adaptive coping mechanism can be defined as an individual’s approach in managing a stressor through behaviours that modify the stressor itself or one’s emotional reaction (Campbell-Sills et al., 2006). This adaptive approach is thought to lead to desirable personal or social outcomes (Yeung et al., 2016). Conversely, maladaptive coping mechanisms, characterized by denial or escape in the face of stress (Meyer, 2001), are associated with maladaptation, such as psychological distress (e.g., anxiety and depression) (Marcks & Woods, 2007). As coping mechanisms are generally thought to be impacted by social relations, we explored the links among essential relationships, those with parents and peers, and adaptive and maladaptive coping mechanisms among youth from low-SES urban backgrounds. As parenting experiences in the context of low-SES are associated with a host of psychosocial outcomes across development (McLanahan & Percheski, 2008), we compared these links between youth living with a single-mother and those with both a maternal and paternal figure. The participants were between 7 and 14 years old recruited from a summer camp for low-SES inner-city youth. The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment was used to evaluate the quality of parent/peer relationships and Coping Strategies Inventory – Short Form was used to assess adaptive and maladaptive coping mechanisms. The findings from four multiple regression analyses revealed that: among youth from single-mother households, peer attachment promoted the development of adaptive coping (F(3,74)= , p< .05, R2= .12, R2Adjusted = .09, t(77)= 2.17, p< .05) and maternal attachment was associated with a reduction in maladaptive coping (F(,)= , p< .., R2= ., R2Adjusted = .12, = -2.53, p < .05). These findings are consistent with evidence that peer support represents a buffer in the association among negative life events and general emotional wellbeing (Jhang, 2019). Moreover, in single-mother households, the findings highlight the strength and resilience of mother’s in building positive mother-child relationships that contributes in decreasing youth engagement in maladaptive coping mechanisms in the face of poverty. Among youth who live with both a maternal and a paternal figure (F(3,26)= , p< .05, R2= .31, R2Adjusted = .23), father attachment was associated with a decrease in maladaptive coping (t = -2.94, p< .01), while maternal attachment contributed to its development (t= 2.44, p< .05). This unexpected pattern of results may be associated with other factors that impede on the benefits of positive mother attachment in decreasing maladaptive coping among the youth. For example, the findings from Kim et al.’s (2015) longitudinal study highlight that chronic exposure to poverty throughout childhood and adolescence may include a greater use of disengagement versus engagement coping mechanisms. Similarly, for the youth from this subsample, the effects of poverty may hinder the effect of healthy mother-child relations.

Authors