Adolescent stress and coping: implications for psychopathology during adolescence

Stressful experiences and efforts to cope with stress are central to understanding psychological distress and psychopathology during adolescence. Depressive phenomena during adolescence offer a particularly interesting opportunity for understanding the role of stress and coping processes in adolescent psychopathology. Research concerned with stress and coping during adolescence is reviewed, using depression as a key example of a consequence of stress and coping processes. Based on this research, it is hypothesized that exposure to and appraisals of interpersonal stress combine with aspects of biological development and the use of maladaptive coping strategies to account for the emergence of significant gender differences in depression and other forms of psychopathology during adolescence. Directions for future research in this area are highlighted.