Mediation by coping style in the association between stressful life events and depressive symptoms in young adults

Purpose The association between stressful life events and depressive symptoms is well-established, but the role of coping style in this association is less clear. We examined whether problem-focused, emotion-focused or avoidant coping style mediated and/or moderated the association in young adults. Methods Data were drawn from a 20-year longitudinal study that included 1294 students’ age 12–13 years recruited in 1999–2000 from ten high schools in Montreal, Canada. Herein we report an analysis that included 782 participants aged 24 years on average with data on covariates collected at age 20. Using VanderWeele’s four-way decomposition approach, the total effect of stressful life events on depressive symptoms considering coping styles was decomposed into four components: moderation only, mediation only, mediated interaction, no mediation or moderation. Results We observed mediation only by emotion-focused coping ( β ^ (95%CI) = 0.15(0.04, 0.24)) suggestive that individuals who experienced more stressful life events also reported greater use of emotion-focused coping and higher levels of depressive symptoms. We found moderation only by problem-focused coping ( β ^ (95%CI) = − 1.51(− 2.40, − 0.53)) and by emotion-focused coping ( β ^ (95%CI) = 1.16(0.57, 1.69). These results suggest that individuals reporting more problem-focused coping experienced fewer depressive symptoms after exposure to stressful life events; those reporting more emotion-focused coping experienced more depressive symptoms. Avoidant coping did not mediate or moderate the association between stressful life events and depressive symptoms. Conclusion Interventions that aim to reduce depressive symptoms in young adults who experience stressful life events may need to reinforce problem-focused coping and minimize emotion-focused coping strategies.