Rural adolescents' coping responses: implications for behavioral health nurses

The purpose of this paper is to identify coping responses of rural adolescents. The sample included 193 students attending three high schools in southwestern Pennsylvania. Family and peer relationships were the most common stressful situations described by the adolescents. Coping responses were measured by the Coping Responses Inventory-Youth Form (CRI-Y). The results indicate that males most often report the coping response of logical analysis and females report the coping response of cognitive avoidance most often. Mental health programs, led by behavioral health nurses, may teach a variety of coping strategies to rural adolescents.