Dimensions of the KidCope and their associations with mental health outcomes in Tanzanian adolescent orphans

Figures & data

Table 1. African Youth Psychological Assessment (AYPA).

Subscale	Items
Anxiety	Has constant worries, Does not sleep at night, Has a lot of worries, Thinks other people are chasing you, Cries continuously
Depression	Has a lot of thoughts, Has pain all over your body, Thinks you are of no use, Thinks about suicide, Sits alone, Gets headaches, Feels a lot of pain in your heart, Sits with your cheek in your palm, Cries when you are alone, Feels cold, Wants to be alone, Holds head, Drinks alcohol, Does not think straight, Mutters to yourself, Feels you can do nothing to help yourself, Feels sad, Thinks of bad things
Externalizing Behaviors	Is disobedient, Insults friends, Fights, Uses bad language, Is disrespectful, Misbehaves, Deceives, Is a rough person, Consumes drugs (like marijuana)

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of analytical sample (n = 350).

Variable		N	%
Sex
Male		201	57%
Female		149	43%
Age
10		68	19%
11		45	13%
12		36	10%
13		72	21%
14		127	36%
15		2	1%
School Enrollment
Yes		322	92%
No		28	8%
Municipal District
Ilala		99	28%
Temeke		164	47%
Ubongo		87	25%
		Mean	SD
Age		12.4	1.5
Pubertal Maturation (range 0–3)
Female		1.5	1.2
Male		0.7	0.9
Orphanage Experience
Age began care under orphanage		7.2	3.7
Years spent at orphanage		5.4	3.6

Table 3. KidCope item endorsement by gender

KidCope item	Strategy	Males N (%)^a	Females (N (%)^a
1. I just tried to forget it	Distraction	133 (66.2)	92 (61.7)
2. I did something like watch TV or played a game to forget it	Distraction	150 (74.6)	106 (71.1)
3. I stayed by myself	Withdrawal	45 (22.4)	34 (22.8)
4. I kept quiet about the problem	Withdrawal	90 (44.8)	65 (43.6)
5. I tried to see the good side of things	Cognitive Restructuring	104 (51.7)	77 (51.7)
6. I blamed myself for causing the problem	Self-Criticism	48 (23.9)	36 (24.2)
7. I blamed someone else for causing the problem	Blaming Others	36 (17.9)	31 (20.8)
8. I tried to fix the problem by thinking of answers	Problem Solving	116 (57.8)	72 (48.3)
9. I tried to fix the problem by doing something or talking to someone	Problem Solving	128 (63.7)	86 (57.7)
10. I yelled, screamed, or got mad	Emotional Outburst	37 (18.4)	28 (18.8)
11. I tried to calm myself down	Emotional Regulation	171 (85.0)	113 (75.8)
12. I wished the problem had never happened	Wishful Thinking	178 (88.6)	118 (79.2)
13. I wished I could make things different	Wishful Thinking	163 (81.1)	98 (65.8)
14. I tried to feel better by spending time with other family or friends	Social Support	177 (88.1)	119 (79.9)
15. I didn't do anything because the problem couldn't be fixed	Resignation	75 (37.3)	57 (38.3)
16. I prayed to feel better.	Prayer	166 (82.3)	122 (81.9)

^aPercentages refer to those reporting they ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ to using this strategy.

Table 4. Correlations between all key variables (n = 350).

	Key variables	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1	Sex	–
2	Age	0.01	–
3	PDS	0.37***	0.52***	–
4	Emotional Abuse	0.08	−0.05	0.08	-
5	Emotional Neglect	0.05	0.08	0.21***	0.28***	-
6	Physical Hardship	−0.07	−0.02	−0.03	0.44***	0.28***	-
7	Distraction	−0.02	0.01	−0.02	−0.10	−0.09	−0.03	-
8	Resignation	−0.07	0.01	0.10	0.12*	0.22***	0.22***	0.21***	-
9	Problem Focused	−0.08	0.09	0.09	−0.03	0.00	0.03	0.33***	0.24***	-
10	Social Support	0.04	0.06	0.10	−0.09	0.06	−0.12*	0.39***	0.34***	0.35***	-
11	Depression	0.12*	−0.03	0.16**	0.36***	0.31***	0.30***	−0.14*	0.24***	−0.02	0.00	-
12	Anxiety	0.12*	−0.05	0.10	0.24***	0.31***	0.28***	0.19***	0.18**	−0.03	−0.08	0.64***	-
13	External Behaviors	0.10	−0.06	0.07	0.17**	0.11*	0.17**	0.07	0.16**	−0.02	−0.08	0.32***	0.22***	-

Note: PDS = Pubertal Development Status; *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed); **correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed); ***correlation is significant at the <0.001 level (two-tailed).

Table 5. Simple linear regressions on coping dimension use of adverse life experiences and demographic variables.

	Distraction		Resignation		Problem Focused		Social Support
	β (SE)	p	β (SE)	p	β (SE)	p	β (SE)	p
Age	0.03 (0.03)	0.908	0.01 (0.02)	0.830	0.04 (0.02)	0.087	0.03 (0.03)	0.278
Sex	−0.03 (0.08)	0.745	−0.09 (0.07)	0.215	−0.11 (0.08)	0.151	0.07 (0.09)	0.419
PDS	−0.01 (0.04)	0.766	0.06 (0.03)	0.056	0.06 (0.03)	0.109	0.07 (0.04)	0.072
Enrolled in school	0.05 (0.15)	0.736	0.30 (0.13)	0.017*	0.03 (0.14)	0.849	−0.16 (0.16)	0.324
Age joined orphanage	−0.02 (0.01)	0.109	−0.01 (0.01)	0.422	−0.02 (0.10)	0.097	−0.01 (0.03)	0.260
Years at orphanage	0.02 (0.01)	0.062	0.01 (0.01)	0.587	0.02 (0.01)	0.024*	0.02 (0.01)	0.111
Total ALE	−0.04 (0.02)	0.080	0.08 (0.18)	0.000***	0.00 (0.02)	0.980	−0.04 (0.02)	0.155
Emotional Abuse	−0.09 (0.05)	0.068	0.09 (0.04)	0.027	−0.03 (0.04)	0.563	−0.08 (0.05)	0.114
Emotional Neglect	−0.10 (0.06)	0.087	0.21 (0.05)	0.000***	−0.00 (0.06)	0.997	0.08 (0.07)	0.244
Physical Hardship	−0.03 (0.04)	0.569	0.15 (0.04)	0.000***	0.02 (0.04)	0.555	−0.11 (0.05)	0.026*
Stigma	−0.03 (0.12)	0.090	0.05 (0.01)	0.000***	−0.02 (0.02)	0.197	−0.02 (0.02)	0.365

PDS = pubertal development status; ALE = adverse life experience.

p* < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Table 6. Hierarchical multiple regressions on psychological symptoms.

		Depression^a			Anxiety^b			Externalizing behaviors^c
Model		β	SE	p	β	SE	p	β	SE	p
M1	Sex	0.68	0.52	0.192	0.30	0.17	0.087	0.31	0.20	0.132
	PDS	0.56	0.23	0.016*	0.09	0.08	0.249	0.06	0.09	0.532
M2	Sex	0.97	0.51	0.055	0.39	0.17	0.019*	0.39	0.20	0.055
	PDS	0.41	0.23	0.070	0.04	0.07	0.555	0.05	0.09	0.607
	Distraction	−1.01	0.34	0.003**	−0.39	0.11	0.000***	0.25	0.13	0.059
	Resignation	2.11	0.39	0.000***	0.60	0.13	0.000***	0.58	0.16	0.000***
	Problem Focused	−0.20	0.37	0.587	0.05	0.12	0.656	−0.10	0.15	0.507
	Social Support	−0.22	0.32	0.483	−0.19	0.10	0.063	−0.38	0.13	0.003**
M3	Sex	0.65	0.44	0.134	0.34	0.15	0.024*	0.34	0.20	0.090
	PDS	0.32	0.20	0.107	0.01	0.07	0.939	0.04	0.09	0.671
	Distraction	−0.62	0.29	0.035*	−0.28	0.10	0.005**	0.31	0.13	0.019*
	Resignation	0.96	0.35	0.007**	0.24	0.12	0.050	0.37	0.16	0.023*
	Problem Focused	0.02	0.31	0.944	0.12	0.11	0.244	−0.06	0.14	0.664
	Social Support	0.02	0.28	0.936	−0.14	0.09	0.151	−0.32	0.13	0.011*
	Emotional Abuse	0.64	0.27	0.017*	−0.06	0.09	0.490	0.09	0.12	0.456
	Emotional Neglect	0.80	0.32	0.014*	0.42	0.11	0.000***	0.08	0.15	0.569
	Physical Hardship	0.08	0.26	0.755	0.08	0.09	0.349	0.05	0.12	0.675
	Stigma	0.74	0.09	0.000***	0.23	0.03	0.000***	0.14	0.04	0.001**

Note: SE = Robust standard errors; p* < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

^aR²= 0.0038 for step 1, p = 0.0319; R²= 0.1267 for step 2, p = 0.0000; R²= 0.3675 for step 3, p = 0.0000.

^bR²= 0.0189 for step 1, p = 0.0372; R²= 0.1129 for step 2, p = 0.0000; R²= 0.3155 for step 3, p = 0.0000.

^cR²= 0.0112 for step 1, p = 0.0004; R²= 0.0682 for step 2, p = 0.0004; R²= 0.1216 for step 3, p = 0.0005.

Figure 1. Bivariate relationship between mean use of coping dimension and psychological symptoms using locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (Lowess).

Figure 1 shows three-line graphs displaying the bivariate linear relationship between distraction, social support, problem focused and resignation coping dimensions, on depression, anxiety, and externalizing behaviors symptoms. Each association is represented with a different color line. The x-axis shows the level of each coping dimensions, and the y-axis shows the level of each mental health outcome.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the sensitive age of the study participants (10–15 years old). These datasets are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The author will vet requests to be certain that appropriate IRB approvals and data safety guidelines are in place before distribution.