Developmental Trajectories Of Adolescents' Coping Strategies In Response To Social Stressor:the Role Of Maternal Psychological Control

The present study explored the developmental trajectories of maternal psychological control and children's coping strategies during early adolescence,and the effects of maternal psychological control on children's coping strategies.Participants were 1027 primary and middle school students and their mothers.They were selected randomly from 2 public schools in urban Shanghai area.During the longitudinal study,every year children reported their coping strategies in response to social stressors,and their mothers reported on their psychological control.Latent growth cohort model was utilized to depict the developmental trajectories of maternal psychological control and children's coping strategies from grade 3 to grade 8.The levels of maternal psychological control at grade 3 were used to predict the development of children's coping strategies.Our findings revealed that: 1).Maternal hostile psychological control remained stable during early adolescence,whereas maternal relational induction increased over time;2).Children's using of adaptive coping strategies(seeking social support,problem solving)increased first,and decreased after entering middle school,with a peak at grade 5;Children's using of maladaptive coping strategies(internalizing,externalizing)kept growing from grade 3 to grade 8,and the using of externalizing strategy grew faster over time;3).Higher levels of maternal hostile psychological control at grade 3 predicted sharper growth of internalizing strategy in children from grade 3 to grade 8,and a higher level of internalizing coping at grade 8;In contrast,higher levels of maternal relational induction at grade 3 led to slower growth of externalizing strategy in children from grade 3 to grade 8,and a lower level of externalizing coping at grade 8.