Influence of sex, age, and culture on coping strategies of Paraguayan and Mexican adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a period sensitive to stress, however, coping can contribute to a positive adaptation, which tends to change depending on some personal variables such as sex, age, and context such as culture. The objective of this investigation was to analyze the influence of sex, age and culture on coping strategies with Paraguayan and Mexican adolescents. A field study was carried out, cross-sectional, expos-facto, comparative type of two independent samples with a 2 x 2 x 2 design. 2278 schoolchildren from Paraguay (n = 1188) and Mexicans (n = 1090) from 13 to 18 years old (M = 15.15, SD = 1.48) participated intentionally. The Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS) was applied, which evaluates three styles and 18 coping strategies and a sociodemographic card. Differences and main effects were found by age and country in the styles of productive coping, nonproductive coping, and with reference to others and in some of their strategies. Women use more coping strategies, many related to the search for social support. Early Paraguayan and Mexican adolescents tend to present fewer productive strategies. Effects of interaction were found only on sex and culture on coping styles. These data provide evidence that could be useful for public policies for the prevention and promotion of adolescent health.