Suppressor Effects in Coping Research With African American Adolescents From Low-Income Communities

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to demonstrate the replicable nature of statistical suppressor effects in coping research through 2 examples with African American adolescents from low-income communities. Method: Participants in the 1st example included 497 African American adolescents (mean age = 12.61 years, SD = 0.99; 57% female) reporting on dispositional coping, and participants in the 2nd example included 268 African American adolescents (mean age = 12.90 years, SD = 1.27; 56% female) reporting on situation-based coping. Participants in both samples completed self-report measures of coping strategies (Children's Coping Strategies Checklist and How I Coped Under Pressure Scale) and internalizing symptoms (Youth Self-Report, Children's Depression Inventory, and Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale). Results: The results of structural equation modeling revealed significant suppressor effects, with active coping and support-seeking coping enhancing the association between avoidant coping and internalizing symptoms. Conclusions: The demonstration of replicable suppressor effects helps to advance coping research and intervention by providing evidence of the interdependence of coping strategies, thus increasing understanding of how coping strategies work together to predict outcomes. The current study offers recommendations for understanding associations among coping strategies within the context of suppression effects.