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Do coping mechanisms moderate the effect of stressful life events on depression and anxiety in young people? A case-control study from Latin America

Hudson, Georgie; Fung, Catherine; Sureshkumar, Diliniya Stanislaus; Gomez-Restrepo, Carlos; Uribe-Restrepo, Jose Miguel; Ariza-Salazar, Karen; Diez-Canseco, Francisco; ... Kirkbride, James B; + view all (2025) Do coping mechanisms moderate the effect of stressful life events on depression and anxiety in young people? A case-control study from Latin America. BMJ Mental Health , 28 (1) , Article e301087. 10.1136/bmjment-2024-301087. Green open access

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Abstract

Background Stressful life events (SLEs) are associated with increased risk of depression or anxiety. Coping mechanisms may moderate this relationship but little is known on this topic in young people or in Latin America. Aim To investigate whether coping strategies predict odds of depression and/or anxiety and moderate the relationship between SLEs and depression and/or anxiety in young people in Peru, Lima and Bogotá. Method Using case-control data from people aged 15-24, we used logistic regression to examine associations between coping mechanism, SLEs and caseness for depression or anxiety, adjusting for sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors. We included interaction terms to model whether this association varied depending on coping mechanisms (positive cognitive restructuring, problem focused, support seeking, distraction, avoidant). Results We included 1437 cases and 965 controls. Cases reported less use of positive cognitive restructuring (OR 0.66; 95% CI 0.57 to 0.75) and problem-focused coping (OR 0.82; 95% CI 0.73 to 0.93), and more use of avoidance than controls (OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.19 to 1.50) in adjusted models. They had greater odds of reporting lifetime (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.10) and past-year (OR 1.05; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.10) SLEs than controls. We found weak but consistent evidence of effect modification; the association between lifetime SLEs and case-control status was stronger in those who used less support seeking (p=0.09), problem-focused coping (p=0.08) or positive cognitive restructuring (p=0.09). Conclusions Relationships between SLEs, coping mechanisms and depression/anxiety appear similar in these Latin American cities to other contexts. Active coping strategies may ameliorate the impact of SLEs on mental health of young people.

Type: Article
Title: Do coping mechanisms moderate the effect of stressful life events on depression and anxiety in young people? A case-control study from Latin America
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1136/bmjment-2024-301087
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2024-301087
Language: English
Additional information: This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords: Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Psychiatry, Child & adolescent psychiatry, Anxiety disorders, Depression & mood disorders, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Depression, MENTAL-HEALTH, MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALE, DISORDER, BURDEN
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry > Epidemiology and Applied Clinical Research
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10205124
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