Stress and Children’s, Adolescents' and Young Adults’ Ways to Cope with It

A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Psychology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2024 | Viewed by 4622

Special Issue Editor

Institute of Psychology, University of Opole, 45-452 Opole, Poland
Interests: stress; coping; trauma; disasters; mental health; social support; addiction; homelessness; addiction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Stress can be caused by a variety of factors, namely from home, school, mass media and unfavourable peer environments. Children and young people face difficulties and different demands daily, which often exceed their remedial capabilities. Moreover, in this millennium, the threat of mass catastrophes in the world is much greater than in the past, and their effects are more potent and devastating. Young people who do not cope well with adversity and do not receive enough external support can suffer the mental and physical effects of stress for many years. Therefore, efforts and strategies to cope with stress in childhood and adolescence are central to understanding and preventing distress and psychopathology in adulthood. A hygienic lifestyle, nutrition and physical activity are particularly beneficial for young people's health, buffer stress and in preventing psychopathology. In this context, looking for ways to help young people increase their remedial potential is extremely important. The advantage is the use of knowledge gathered by representatives of various behavioural disciplines that share a common understanding of the observed phenomena unfavourable to health and proper development.

This Special Issue aims to develop the literature on stress effects and remedies for children, adolescents and young adults from an interdisciplinary perspective. Therefore, we welcome theoretical and empirical contributions that advance knowledge of the factors and mechanisms leading to positive health and well-being among youths. A hygienic lifestyle, nutrition and physical activity are particularly beneficial for young people's health, buffer stress and in preventing psychopathology.

Prof. Dr. Anna Bokszczanin
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • stress
  • coping
  • trauma
  • mass disasters
  • mental health
  • well-being
  • social support
  • COVID-19
  • addiction
  • physical and social activity
  • nutrition

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 334 KiB  
Article
Coping with the Stress through Individual and Contextual Resilient Factors in Primary School Settings
by Raquel Flores-Buils and Clara Andrés-Roqueta
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(11), 880; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13110880 - 24 Oct 2023
Viewed by 968
Abstract
Children face school stress as students through all educational stages. A negative association between resilience and stress has been demonstrated by many authors, but most of these studies have been carried out in higher educational stages. So, the aim of the present study [...] Read more.
Children face school stress as students through all educational stages. A negative association between resilience and stress has been demonstrated by many authors, but most of these studies have been carried out in higher educational stages. So, the aim of the present study is, on the one hand, to find out the level of stress of primary school children and also the types of stressful situations in school settings, and on the other hand, to analyze the effect of individual and contextually resilient factors on their level of school stress. The study involved 427 children between 6 and 12 years of age, who were administered the IECI school stress scale and the RES-PRIM Resilience questionnaire for children. Descriptive analyses, correlations, and regression analyses were performed on the data. Results showed an average level of school stress, with the most stressful situations being: participating in too many activities, concentration problems, and nervousness when being asked by the teacher in class. Predictive analysis showed that part of the school stress could be explained by both individual factors (self-esteem, introspection, future purpose, and social skills) and resilient contextual factors (teacher support, parental support, and peer support). It is concluded that it is necessary to pay more attention to the transitions between different educational stages with programs that reinforce academic information and encourage the development of individual resilient skills, stressing the importance of the role of teachers, peers, and parents as support groups. Full article
10 pages, 248 KiB  
Article
Category-Specific Stress Mindsets: Beliefs about the Debilitating versus Enhancing Effects of Specific Types of Stressors among Young Adults
by Elijah R. Murphy, Diana J. Cox, Feven Fisseha and Kathleen C. Gunthert
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(9), 709; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13090709 - 26 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1186
Abstract
Recently, research has shown that stress mindsets, or the degree to which people believe that stress is enhancing versus debilitating, impact the ways they process and react to stress. However, young adults encounter various forms of stress, which might elicit different stress mindsets. [...] Read more.
Recently, research has shown that stress mindsets, or the degree to which people believe that stress is enhancing versus debilitating, impact the ways they process and react to stress. However, young adults encounter various forms of stress, which might elicit different stress mindsets. This study investigated (1) how much young adults think about specific types of stressors as they complete stress mindset measures and (2) how stress mindsets vary across stressor types. Method: Participants (n = 182) completed measures of general and category-specific stress mindsets (academic, interpersonal, identity-based, illness, societal, financial) and rated how much they thought of each category when completing the general mindset measure. Results: Academic stress was the most salient, and identity-based discrimination was the least salient as participants completed the stress mindset measure. Academic stress was perceived as the most stress-enhancing, and illness stressors were rated as the least stress-enhancing. Cisgender women reported stronger stress-is-debilitating mindsets for interpersonal and illness/injury-related stressors as compared with cisgender men. Conclusion: Stress mindset ratings in research studies might be weighted toward certain types of stressors. Further, young adults’ mindsets differ across different stressor categories. This nuance has implications for how we conceptualize stress mindset in interventions and research. Full article
16 pages, 693 KiB  
Article
How Does Trait Mindfulness Weaken the Effects of Risk Factors for Adolescent Smartphone Addiction? A Moderated Mediation Model
by Dengfeng Li, Yang Xu and Shangqing Cao
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 540; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13070540 - 28 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1808
Abstract
As a psychological resource of individuals, trait mindfulness is valuable in facilitating individuals to maintain attention intensity, increase efficiency, and alleviate stress and depression. It can also buffer against the risk factors of addictive behaviors. However, applied research combining trait mindfulness and smartphone [...] Read more.
As a psychological resource of individuals, trait mindfulness is valuable in facilitating individuals to maintain attention intensity, increase efficiency, and alleviate stress and depression. It can also buffer against the risk factors of addictive behaviors. However, applied research combining trait mindfulness and smartphone addiction with the use of psychological resources is relatively scarce and needs further examination. We constructed a moderated mediation model based on compensatory Internet use and conservation of resources theory (OCR) to examine the effects of social anxiety on adolescent smartphone addiction and to describe how trait mindfulness “works” and “in what contexts it works better”. We analyzed 1570 adolescent subjects through a multistage stratified sampling method. Our findings revealed that social anxiety positively predicted smartphone addiction, while trait mindfulness was negatively associated with it. Furthermore, trait mindfulness mitigated smartphone addiction by reducing social anxiety, suggesting a mediating effect of social anxiety on this relationship. Meanwhile, the mediating effect was more pronounced among adolescents with left-behind experience; we found that left-behind experience partially moderated the relationship between social anxiety and smartphone addiction. Adolescents with left-behind experience had more significant compensatory media use with a higher risk of smartphone addiction. This study highlights the potential protective role of trait mindfulness in the development and maintenance of adolescent smartphone addiction. It provides empirical support for applying resource conservation theory and stress buffering theory in this context. Full article
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