Concurrent and longitudinal effects of personality traits on coping styles in adolescence: The moderating role of family functioning

The aim of this study was to examine concurrent and longitudinal effects of personality traits and moderating role of family functioning on coping styles in adolescence. At first measurement point (Time 1) we measured personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism), family functioning and coping styles (problem-focused, emotion-focused and avoidance) and three years later (Time 2), only coping styles. Regarding concurrent effects in girls, hierarchical regression analyses showed that personality traits significantly predicted all three coping styles. Family functioning predicted problem-focused coping and moderated the effects of extraversion and neuroticism on problem-focused and neuroticism on avoidance coping. Analyses of longitudinal effect in girls showed that psychoticism positively predicted avoidance coping and family functioning moderated the effect of psychoticism on problem-focused coping. Psychoticism was negatively related to problem-focused coping when family functioning was high and unrelated when family functioning was low. In boys, family functioning concurrently positively predicted problem-focused and emotion- focused, and neuroticism and psychoticism avoidance coping. Family functioning did not moderate the effects of traits on coping styles and there were no significant longitudinal effects of predictor variables on coping styles.