Progression Through Adolescence ■■ m ay use humour as a coping strategy Early adolescence ■■ attempts to cope with anxieties about friendships (11-14 years) ■■ shows an awareness of coping strategies that help deal with difficult emotions (e.g. distracting themselves from worrying about things out of their control) ■■
nderstands that it may be harder to carry out coping strategies that deal u with difficult emotions
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aware of strategies which help to overcome stress
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avoids potentially negative situations
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plans activities to distract themselves from negative emotions
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considers personal values when choosing a coping strategy from approximately 13 years (e.g. if achieving high grades at school is important to the adolescent, they are more likely to choose problem solving or information seeking strategies to cope with a heavy work load, rather than use escape/avoidant strategies)
■■ d emonstrates an awareness of the importance of managing one’s emotions Middle adolescence ■■ has better control over emotions caused by interpersonal conflict (14-16 years) o t hinks carefully about the complexities of relationships and uses insight to develop strategies to deal with conflicts and think about what to do differently next time ■■
s hows increased resistance to peer pressure, coping with the associated emotions
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i ntegrates information from various sources when developing a coping response
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seeks professional health advice when needed
Coping
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