Adolescent Coping Across Time: Implications for Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses

Abstract

This article compares rural adolescents' coping responses before and after the behavioral intervention Teaching Kids to Cope with Anger (TKC-A). A quasi-experimental design was used, that included 94 (intervention) and 85 (control) students who were enrolled in three high schools in rural southwestern Pennsylvania. Results showed no statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups' coping responses following the TKC- A intervention. The majority of youth in this study demonstrated healthy coping skills. In the future, the TKC-A needs to be integrated into the high school curriculum as a health promotion effort that is tailored to adolescents.