Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 2, 2012
Aspects of personality are first displayed as infants relieve stress by crying, turning their heads or maintaining eye contact. Adults tend to manage emotional tension using problem-solving or by seeking support.
?We?re each born with some personality tendencies; for example, we see that babies are fussy or calm,? said Gustavo Carlo, Ph.D., a University of Missouri professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.
?Those characteristics can change over time as people experience certain events or as a result of their parents, peers or communities. At the same time, as we get older, our personalities become more stable.?
Carlo and his colleagues surveyed 1,557 students ages 12-15 years old in Valencia, Spain. Investigators sought to measure the adolescents? feelings toward others, including empathy and concern for others, their past social and physically aggressive behaviors, their emotional stability and how they manage stress.
Carlo found that empathetic adolescents were more likely to use problem-focused coping, which aims to reduce or eliminate the source of the stress.
Empathetic teens also were more likely to perform prosocial behaviors that benefit others, such as volunteering, donating money or helping friends with problems.
Conversely, emotionally unstable, impulsive adolescents relied more on emotion-focused coping tactics such as venting, avoidance or distraction, and they showed more frequent signs of aggression.
?Empathetic kids are generally very good at regulating their emotions and tend not to lose their tempers,? Carlo said. ?When you?re good at regulating your emotions, you?re less concerned about yourself and more considerate of other people. On the other hand, impulsive children are more self-focused and have difficulty engaging in problem-focused coping.?
Researchers believe that teens will benefit from learning different ways to manage stress. This knowledge will help teens decide which coping techniques to use, based on the situation, Carlo said.
In some cases, people may use both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping, while in others, one might be more beneficial. For example, emotion-focused coping might be more constructive when children witness their parents? divorces because the kids cannot change those situations.
On the other hand, planning ahead to study for tests or complete homework is a problem-focused coping technique that can help adolescents effectively ease academic stress.
?Sometimes we get stuck dealing with stress in one way because it was successful in the past; that coping style may not be effective with other stressors and in other situations,? Carlo said.
?There is more than one way to cope in situations, and people need to know when to apply which coping mechanisms.?
Source: University of Missouri
APA Reference
Nauert PhD, R. (2012). Differences in Teens? Coping Styles Affect Social Behaviors. Psych Central. Retrieved on August 2, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/08/02/differences-in-teens-coping-styles-affect-social-behaviors/42559.html
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