Experience of stress in adolescence

This study concerns stress-protective factors-distress relationships with 297 adolescents. The first goal was to study if these relationships change depending on the sex of the participant. The second goal of the present research was to predict stress experience (frequency, intensity, severity) by depression, self-esteem, social support and coping. Controlling the age of the participant, the results indicate that female teenagers are more threatened by chronic stress, more depressive, have more available persons in their social network, use social or avoidant coping more often whereas the male adolescents show a better self-esteem. Concerning the second objective, self-esteem and avoidant coping can predict stress experience (frequency and severity), while the state of depression is the only factor that can predict the three aspects of stress (frequency, intensity, severity), as opposed to social support, and social or problem-solving coping.