Coping strategies of children with sadness/unhappiness and their relationship with levels of depression

Tez Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Psikoloji, Türkiye

Tez Danışmanı: Ayşe Nuray Karancı

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 1992

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Özet:

This study aimed to examine children's ideas about what to do when they a.re feeling depressed/unhappy, to investigate whether there are sex and SES differences in the number end effectiveness ratings of coping strategies given by children end finally to investigate the relationship between the number end effectiveness of coping strategies given and depressive symptomatology.

Coping strategies were obtained by using a. semi-structured interview which consisted of mainly five questions.

Results indicated that children in this sample had obvious ideas about "what you do when feeling depressed/unhappy", "what works best? 11 and also how well that works? 11•• Children reported coping strategies that could be grouped under nine coping categories. These were; "play", "help and comfort seeking activities", "altruistic behaviors", entertainment and aesthetics", "reactive behaviors", "avoidance" , "eating," "crying " and "miscellaneous". The most frequently, the mentioned category was play. The least frequently mentioned category was eating. The reactive type of strategies, avoidance and altruistic behaviors seemed to be used less than play, help, and comfort-seeking activities, and entertainment and aesthetics strategies by children to cope with their depressed/unhappy feelings. In response to question II what works best? 11, the most frequently mentioned strategies were play and help and comfort-seeking activities. Dealing with choosing coping strategies, it was found that SES and gender factors affect the choice of coping strategies. Results also pointed out that there was a. strong relationship between the number of coping strategies, their effectiveness ratings, and depressive symptomatology. Children who had high scores on the CDI reported less number of coping strategies and gave low effectiveness ratings than children who had low scores on the CDI.

These results were discussed in terms of the limitations and weaknesses of the present study and directions for future research were suggested.