Suppressor effects in coping research with African American adolescents from low-income communities.

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to demonstrate the replicable nature of statistical suppressor effects in coping research through 2 examples with African American adolescents from low-income communities. Method: Participants in the 1st example included 497 African American adolescents (mean age = 12.61 years, SD = 0.99; 57% female) reporting on dispositional coping, and participants in the 2nd example included 268 African American adolescents (mean age = 12.90 years, SD = 1.27; 56% female) reporting on situation-based coping. Participants in both samples completed self-report measures of coping strategies (Children's Coping Strategies Checklist and How I Coped Under Pressure Scale) and internalizing symptoms (Youth Self-Report, Children's Depression Inventory, and Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale). Results: The results of structural equation modeling revealed significant suppressor effects, with active coping and support-seeking coping enhancing the association between avoidant coping and internalizing symptoms. Conclusions: The demonstration of replicable suppressor effects helps to advance coping research and intervention by providing evidence of the interdependence of coping strategies, thus increasing understanding of how coping strategies work together to predict outcomes. The current study offers recommendations for understanding associations among coping strategies within the context of suppression effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping patterns of African American adolescents: A confirmatory factor analysis and cluster analysis of the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist.

The current study examined patterns of coping strategies in a sample of 497 low-income urban African American adolescents (mean age = 12.61 years). Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the 4-factor structure of the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist (T. S. Ayers, I. N. Sandler, S. G. West, & M. W. Roosa, 1996) was not replicated in the current sample. The final model was a 3-factor model that was invariant across gender. The Active Coping factor and Revised Avoidant Coping factor were highly correlated in the present sample. Results of cluster analyses identified 2 coping groups differing on the frequency of coping use and preferred coping methods. The 1st group was more likely to use avoidant coping and less likely to use social support-seeking coping than the 2nd group, which showed more consistent use across coping strategies. There were no significant differences in the association between stressors and symptoms across the 2 groups. The results highlight the importance of examining factor structures of coping measures with underrepresented groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)