Stress and Coping Among Russian and American Early Adolescents

Self-reported stress, coping, and depression were compared between 270 Russian and 270 American early adolescents, 10 to 14 years of age. Russian and American adolescents reported equal levels of major life stress, but Russian adolescents reported greater levels of everyday life stress. Russian adolescents reported that they were less likely to use externalizing coping and more likely to use social support and problem-solving coping compared with American adolescents. Russian adolescents also reported that they were more depressed. However, LISREL path model analyses examined the relationships among these variables and showed that Russian and American adolescents coped with stress in similar ways. A buffering effect for social support on depression was found for both national groups.