Stress with parents and peers: how adolescents from 18 nations cope with relationship stress

Abstract

Background and Objectives: We investigated how adolescents from five regions around the world perceived and coped with parent- and peer-related stress. Design: The study comprised N = 4957 adolescents (mean age of 15.2 years) from 18 countries. Methods: The study used self-report measures for stress perception and coping style. Results: Across countries, adolescents perceived parent-related stress to be considerably greater than peer-related stress. They coped less actively with parent-related stress than with peer-related stress. Significant differences emerged with respect to geographic region and key demographic indicators. Adolescents from Eastern European and Western countries had generally quite low levels of stress. Adolescents from Southern Europe exhibited the highest stress levels and the greatest coping activity in dealing with stress in both domains, whereas adolescents from Southern Emerging and Asian countries reported high levels of parent-related stress and dealt much less actively with parent-related stress than with peer-related stress. Conclusions: Adolescents from all countries were remarkably competent in dealing with relationship stressors. Cultural and regional differences have a stronger effect on stress perception and coping style than gender.

Keywords:

• stress
• coping
• cross-cultural
• relationships

Acknowledgments

We thank our local collaboration partners for their support in data collection, specifically Cecilia Chau (Catholique University of Lima, Peru), Neslihan Güney Karaman (Baskent University of Ankara, Turkey), Hyeyoun Han (University of Seoul, Korea), Vicki Tam (Baptist Universtiy, Hong Kong), Marion Kloep (University of Glamorgan, UK), Dora Herrera (University of San Jose, Costa Rica), Darko Lonkaric (University of Rijeka, Croatia), Petr Macek (University of Brno, Czech Republic), Merja Luwe (University of Tampere, Finland), Palma Menna (University of Naples, Italy), Iffat Rohail (University of Islamabad, Pakistan), Carmen Rodriguez Naranjo (University of Malaga, Spain), Michelle Terzini-Hollar (University of Leonia, USA), Elso Hoareau (University of Bordeaux, France), Anna Sidor (University of Warsaw, Poland), and Marika Veisson (University of Tallin, Estonia).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Cities included Ankara, Bordeaux, Brno, San Jose, Glamorgan, Hong Kong, Islamabad, Cairo, Leonia, Lima, Mainz, Malaga, Naples, Rijeka, Seoul, Tampere, Tallin, and Warsaw.