Examining Ways of Coping in Hurricane Affected Youth: an Exploratory Structural Equation Model of the Kidcope

Background and Purpose: Following a complex emergency, such as a natural disaster, children’s coping behaviors critically affect the recovery process. Individual differences, the nature of the disaster, the recovery environment, and culture contribute to wide variance in coping styles and behaviors. Assessment of post-disaster coping often presents unique challenges such as the length of scales, cultural relevance, and limited research infrastructure to collect data (Masten, 2012).  Such challenges make it difficult to assess coping styles that mitigate mental health symptoms such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression. The current study uses innovative statistical methodology (exploratory structural equation modeling) to analyze the factor structure of data collected using the Kidcope, a widely used non-diagnostic clinical assessment of coping, in a population of adolescent girls following Hurricane Katrina.

 

Methods: The study sample comprised 652 adolescent females between the ages of 13 and 18 years (mean = 15.46; SD = 1.503) from one all-girls private school in the greater New Orleans, LA area. The sample was predominantly White and reported a larger-than-average household income for New Orleans. Participants completed an adapted version of the Kidcope approximately six months following Hurricane Katrina. Ten coping strategies (distraction, social withdrawal, wishful thinking, self-criticism, blaming others, problem-solving, emotional regulation, cognitive restructuring, social support, and resignation) were assessed by 15 items, with a 4-point Likert-style response scale to indicate frequency of use.

Because of the variability and instability of the Kidcope’s factor structure previously demonstrated in similar contexts, we employed exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). ESEM is particularly appropriate for substantive areas in which measurement is underdeveloped (Muthén, 2008), such as post-disaster coping in children and adolescents.  ESEM combines elements of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to avoid substantive and statistical inaccuracies that can occur with either method along.

 

Results: A four-factor model representing latent constructs of positive coping, blame and anger, wishful thinking, and social withdrawal best fit the data (robust χ2 = 377.457, p<.001; CFI = .985, TLI = .966, RMSEA = .040, WRMR = .509). The results of the current study are consistent with a previous study of children affected by Hurricane Andrew (Vernberg, LaGreca, Silverman, & Prinstein, 1996), which employed a sample that was younger and more diverse (both by race/ethnicity and SES). However, the four-factor solution identified in the current study was inconsistent with Kidcope data from African-American adolescents following Hurricane Katrina (Vigna et al., 2010).

 

Implications and Conclusion: Our results suggest that demographic factors may play a larger role in the use of coping strategies compared to the nature of the trauma/disaster or even developmental stage. No studies to our knowledge have analyzed post-disaster coping measures stratified specifically by demographics, however, the current study contributes to evidence that coping styles may be influenced by ethnicity, gender, economic circumstances and development (Furr, Comer, Edmunds & Kendall, 2010). It is recommended that future studies examine relationships between coping, ethnicity, gender, economic circumstances, human development, and cultural factors to more accurately assess styles of coping among diverse populations in order to inform both diagnosis and intervention.