Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2025

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Maladaptive coping among military-connected adolescents: Examining combined risk using QCA
Tamika D Gilreath1, Francisco A Montiel Ishino2, Kathrine S Sullivan3
1Transdisciplinary Center for Health Equity Research, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States.
Introduction:
Military-connected students in public schools face a unique set of stressors that may impact their wellbeing and academic functioning.
Methods:
Twenty-four youth in the 7th to 12th grades who had an active-duty parent (mother or father) serving in the U.S. Armed Forces were interviewed. Participants completed a qualitative interview while actively completing a Life History Calendar (LHC) to mark deployment and family military service milestones and discuss how they impacted the youth respondent. This study used Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to explore the interplay and combination of specific stressors related to relocation and deployment experiences among adolescents, and to determine key factors associated with maladaptive outcomes.
Results:
The results of the QCA analysis identified bullying experiences and negative experiences with other military-connected youth as conditions that are associated with maladaptive coping.
Discussion:
Chronic and acute stressors in adolescence are established risk factors for mental, emotional, and behavioral problems in the short and long-term including suicidality, substance use and abuse, and substance use disorders. Through qualitative inquiry we were able to identify specific contextual details related to maladaptive coping that can be used to further refine areas of focus for research, prevention, and interventions for military-connected adolescents.
Related Concept Videos
Coping Strategies: Problem Focused
For example, consider a student who struggles to understand their...
Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused
Bullying
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Stress and Mental Health
Individuals with depression often experience challenges in both their personal and professional...
Cognitive Development During Adolescence

