Coping with Anxiety, Depression, Anger and Aggression: The Mediational Role of Resilience in Adolescents

Background: The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health urged that mental health services be transformed from a reactive approach of treatment to a proactive one of prevention and building resilience. In response, the present study delineates the role of resilience in reducing psychopathology. Objective: The study examined the mediational role of resilience (positive thinking, tenacity and help-seeking), on the relationship between coping (approach and avoidance) and psychopathology (anxiety, depression, anger and aggression). Methods: Adolescents (n = 719) aged 14-15 completed questionnaires assessing study variables in school settings. Results: Mediation analysis using Structural Equation Modeling found that resilience factors mediated the approach coping-psychopathology relationship but not the avoidance coping-psychopathology relationship. Specifically, positive thinking mediated the approach coping-internalizing disorders (anxiety; depression) relationship; tenacity mediated the approach coping-aggression link; help-seeking mediated both the approach coping-internalizing disorders, and approach coping-externalizing behaviors (anger; aggression) links. Further, strength-of-mediation analysis revealed that help-seeking was a stronger mediator than positive thinking in the approach coping-anxiety relationship. Conclusion: Approach coping works via resilience processes to bring about a decrease in internalizing (anxiety and depression) and externalizing (anger and aggression) conditions. Specific strategies to cope with these aforementioned conditions are: think positive for anxiety and depression; be tenacious when coping with aggression and seek help for anxiety, depression, anger and aggression. These findings lay the groundwork for resilience interventions.