A coping‐oriented group intervention for students waiting to undergo secondary school transition: Effects on coping strategies, self‐esteem, and social anxiety symptoms

Abstract

AbstractTo facilitate students’ transition into secondary school, a coping‐oriented group program was designed. Pre‐ and posttest data from three intervention groups conducted over the course of 5 weeks were combined for a total of 56 sixth‐grade students waiting to undergo school transition. There was also a test–retest control group (n = 26). Results indicate that completion of the intervention led to a significant decrease on scales measuring self‐reported social anxiety symptoms. There was also a significant increase in intervention participants’ self‐reported self‐esteem, likeability, adherence to social rules, and frequency of active coping strategies, compared with the control group. Furthermore, a regression analysis showed that change in the self‐reported use of active coping strategies predicted change in social anxiety symptoms for the intervention group. However, no significant change in self‐reported use of passive‐avoidant coping was observed. We conclude that facilitating effective coping with stress may provide a highly beneficial perspective toward designing transition groups, that may also lead to a significant reduction in social anxiety symptoms in adolescents waiting to undergo secondary school transition.