Daily stress and coping strategies: Relationships with anxiety and resilience in preadolescents from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Abstract

Prior research demonstrates that stress and coping strategies have a significant influence on development and wellbeing, however few studies focus on the impact of daily stressors and coping strategies on anxiety and resiliency in preadolescents living in Mexico. The current study aim is to determine the impact of coping strategies and daily stressors on anxiety and resilience. Daily stressors, coping strategy use, anxiety symptoms, and resilience were assessed in a sample of 98 students (age 9–13) from two schools serving similar socioeconomic areas in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The relationship was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to better account for the influence of coping daily stressors, gender, and age on both anxiety and resilience. The proposed model had excellent indices of model fit and revealed a positive relationship between daily stressors and levels of anxiety. Non-productive coping strategies were also associated with higher levels of anxiety while the relying on others strategy associated with less anxiety. Productive coping and non-productive coping strategies were associated with greater resiliency. Our findings parallel other findings from the literature, however, in a sample from Mexico. The findings suggest that preadolescents use different coping strategies to effectively manage daily stressors, and that anxiety may influence resiliency.