Female adolescents' suicidal behavior and mothers' ways of coping

Background: The literature supports the notion that suicidal adolescents are poor copers. However it is still unclear what contributes to their poor coping. Aims: The present study explored the possibility that female adolescents' suicidal behavior is an imitation of their mothers' tendency to escape active and problem-focused coping. Method: Female adolescents who appeared in a hospital emergency room because of suicidal behavior (SB), and a control group (non-SB) completed Carver, Scheier and Weintraub's (1989) COPE inventory and Shanan and Nissan's (1961) Active Coping Test. Their mothers also completed the COPE inventory. Results: Hardly any significant differences between SB and non-SB were found, both for female adolescents and for their mothers. Nevertheless, significant age effects were evident, indicating that mothers tend to use more problem-focused coping while adolescents tend to use more disengagement. Moreover, mother-adolescent correlations were significant only for non-SB, except for a significant negative correlation between SB adolescents and their mothers in seeking emotional social support. Conclusions: Results highlight the possibility that only non-SB - but not SB - female adolescents are exposed to a maternal model of positive coping behavior.