International peer-reviewed short communication on the results of the research “The impact of stress and coping strategies on life satisfaction in a national sample of adolescents: A structural equation modelling approach“ was published in the scientific journal „Stress & Health“ 37 (2021), 5: 1026-1034. Director of the Child Protection Center of Zagreb doc. prim. dr. sc. Vanja Slijepčević Saftić, MD, specialist ped., Subspec. of Pediatric Neurology co-authoted this research.
The text of the published paper can be downloaded at the link (PDF) here: The impact of stress and coping strategies on life satisfaction in a national sample of adolescents: A structural equation modelling approach
The authors are dr. sc. Goran Milas from the „Ivo Pilar“ Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb, dr. sc. Irena Martinović Klarić from the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, dr. sc. Ana Malnar from the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies in Zagreb, doc. dr. sc. Daniela Šupe-Domić from the Department of Medical Laboratory Diagnostics of the University Hospital Center Split and the Department of Health Studies of the University of Split and dr. sc. Georg M. Slavich from the Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.
The research was funded by the Croatian Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health (USA), Brain and Behavioral Research Foundation (USA) and the Society for Science – Branco Weiss.
Abstract:
Although stress strongly predicts life satisfaction, the psychosocial mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. To investigate the possible mediating role of coping, we conducted a cross-sectional study that assessed youths‘ life stress levels, propensity to engage in three different coping styles (i.e., active coping, internal coping, & withdrawal), and life satisfaction in probabilistic, two-stage stratified cluster sample od 1830 high school seniors (986 females; age range: 17-22 years old) from 26 schools in or around the four largest cities in Croatia. We used correlational analyses and structural equation modelling to test the hypothesis that coping mediates the relation between stress and life satisfaction.
The tested model was marginally acceptable: χ2 = 1613.85, df = 177, p < 0.001, goodness-of-fit-index = 0.92, Comparitive Fit Index = 0.91, Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.89, root mean square error of approximation = 0.067 (90% CI = 0.064 to 0.070), standardized root mean squared residual = 0.056. As hypothesized, stress was related to life satisfaction directly ( βc’ = -0.22, p < 0.01) but also indirectly (βab = -0.05, p < 0.01) by affecfting youths‘ likelihood of engaging in withdrawal behaviours, such as avoiding problems, distracting, or using anger, alcohol, or drugs. The proportion of the total effect mediated by withdrawal was 19.4%. In contrast, neither active nor internal coping were significant mediators. Based on these results, we conclude that preventive and educational programs for enhancing youth mental healty may benefit from reducing adolescents‘ stress levels and stress-related withdrawal behaviour, and by encouraging youth to use active coping strategies instead.
Keywords: coping, development, life stress, mental health, prevention, resilience, risk
