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Coping skills training for adolescents at school

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Amanda Cotta ,
Erica Frydenberg  and
Charles Poole
Amanda Cotta
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Erica Frydenberg*
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Charles Poole
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
*
Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, PARKVILLE Victoria 3010, Phone: 03 8344 9541, Fax: 03 8344 0995, E-mail: e.frydenberg@edfac.unimelb.edu.a
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Abstract

This study investigates the effect of a coping skills program “The Best of Coping” on adolescents’ coping style and self-efficacy and highlights a model of program delivery through the collaboration of school staff and a school psychologist Eighty-eight adolescents were recruited from a Melbourne suburb and divided into treatment and control groups, with the treatment group receiving the program. All participants completed the Adolescent Coping Scale and Perceived Control of Internal States questionnaires prior to and after the program was conducted. Results showed significant decreases in nonproductive coping and increases in self-efficacy for the treatment group postprogram and a trend indicating increases in productive coping. The findings are discussed with regard to the need to implement programs that can teach adolescents optimism and problem-solving skills so that they may handle problems and stressors more effectively. With the increase in depression and suicide rates, the need to provide school based programs is discussed, with particular emphasis placed on program implementation by collaboration of the school psychologist with teachers.

Keywords

AdolescenceCopingPrevention
Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , 2000 , pp. 103 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2000

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