Self-Construals, adjustment problems and coping styles of internal migrant and non-migrant adolescents

Abstract

Adolescents’ self-development processes, the problems they encounter, and the way they overcome these problems tend to vary based on the culture they are a part of. As internal migration is a phenomenon that brings change to the culture, this study explores adolescence self-construals, adjustment problems, and coping styles in the context of internal migration. A cross-sectional and correlational design was employed in the study. The study data was collected from 979 adolescents. Of those, 410 were internal migrants, whereas 569 were non-migrants from Turkey. 46% of the participants were female and 58% were male. The age range of the participants was 14–18. Results showed that heteronomous-related self-construal was observed more commonly among non-migrant adolescents who used social support to cope with stress more than their peers. There was no difference between non-migrant and internal-migrant adolescents in terms of their adjustment problems. However, there were statistically significant relationships between adolescents’ self-construals, adjustment problems and coping styles in the context of internal migration. The study results and implications were also discussed based on the related literature.