Background

Adolescence is associated with a rise in the incidence of mental health issues. Thus, the factors, processes, and contexts that protect and promote positive mental health in adolescence are of key interest to policymakers.

Objective

Our aim was twofold: First, to explore the coping strategies and sources of support that adolescents identify as protective (or not) in the face of difficulty over a three-year period; second, to examine how and why this may vary in line with the levels of adversity that they report experiencing in life.

Methods

Participants were attending schools in England implementing a mental health prevention programme called HeadStart. 93 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 adolescents (age 11–12 at the outset of the study; 58% female) once per year over three years. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results

Six coping strategy themes (e.g., ‘Disengaging from problems’) and five support themes (e.g., ‘Parents as a source of comfort and advice’) were derived from the interviews. The types, quality, and consistency of reported coping strategies and support varied in line with whether adolescents were experiencing higher or lower levels of adversity in life over time, and according to the resources that they had available within their physical and social contexts.

Conclusions

Our findings underscore the importance for mental health prevention programmes of bolstering both individual-level coping strategies and the resources available within adolescents’ environments to help them to manage adversity.

中文翻译：

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青少年如何根据他们的逆境经历使用应对策略和支持的定性研究

背景

青春期与心理健康问题发生率的上升有关。因此，保护​​和促进青少年积极心理健康的因素、过程和环境是政策制定者的主要兴趣所在。

客观的

我们的目标有两个：首先，探索青少年在三年内面对困难时认为具有保护性（或不具有保护性）的应对策略和支持来源；其次，研究这如何以及为什么会随着他们报告的生活中经历的逆境水平而变化。

方法

参与者在英格兰的学校上学，实施一项名为 HeadStart 的心理健康预防计划。在三年内每年对 31 名青少年（研究开始时年龄为 11-12 岁；58% 为女性）进行 93 次半结构化访谈。使用主题分析法对访谈进行了分析。

结果

六个应对策略主题（例如，“脱离问题”）和五个支持主题（例如，“父母作为安慰和建议的来源”）来自访谈。报告的应对策略和支持的类型、质量和一致性随着时间的推移青少年在生活中经历的逆境水平是高还是低，以及他们在身体和社会环境中可用的资源而有所不同。

结论

我们的研究结果强调了心理健康预防计划的重要性，即加强个人层面的应对策略和青少年环境中的可用资源，以帮助他们应对逆境。