Coping strategies and anxiety in Italian adolescents

203 Italian adolescents completed an Italian modified version of the Amirkhan's Coping Strategy Indicator and the Italian version of the Spielberger, et al. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Three brief stories were presented to the subjects who were requested to put themselves in the protagonist's place and to indicate the extent to which they would use specific coping behaviors to deal with one of the three stressful events. Analysis of variance 3 x 2 (stressor by sex) showed effects due to the sex of the respondent on Seeking Social Support and to stressor on the subscales Problem Solving and Avoidance. A negative correlation was observed between scores on Trait Anxiety and Problem Solving and a positive one between scores on Trait Anxiety and Avoidance. Results seem to confirm the hypothesis that both situational antecedents and anxiety affect the choice of coping strategies. Further implications of finding were discussed.