Coping styles: longitudinal development from ages 17 to 33 and associations with psychiatric disorders

Relationships of coping styles to maturation, sex, and psychiatric diagnoses are not well defined. Accordingly, we examined their development from late-adolescence into adulthood, and their associations with psychiatric disorders. We assessed coping styles in 970 subjects prospectively, at mean ages 17, 24, 29, and 33, using the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations. Selected DSM-IV-TR lifetime psychiatric disorders were assessed at age 24. We found that reliance on adaptive task-oriented coping (TOC) increased sharply from ages 17 to 24, (effect size [ES]=0.94), and stabilized thereafter; less adaptive emotion-oriented coping (EOC) declined continuously over time. Men and women had similar TOC scores from ages 17 to 33, but women had moderately higher EOC scores at age 17 (ES=0.53). Greater reliance on EOC at age 24 was associated with more major depressive or anxiety disorders, adjusted for stressors and sex. Greater use of TOC at age 17 was associated with less risk for drug or alcohol abuse/dependence by age 24 after adjusting for sex and stressors. In conclusion, coping styles generally became more adaptive with maturation, though women used EOC more than men. Additionally, greater reliance on TOC in late-adolescence may reduce risks for substance use disorders.