Individual differences among undergraduate women in methods of coping with stressful events: the impact of cumulative childhood stressors and abuse

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to determine if a history of greater exposure to different types of adverse and/or abusive experiences in childhood would influence coping strategies used by undergraduate women to deal with new stressful events in young adulthood. METHOD: A sample of 828 women undergraduates from a New England state university participated in this questionnaire study. Disengagement and engagement coping strategies used in response to recent stressors were compared in groups who had none, one, two, or three or more types of adverse and/or abusive childhood experiences (sexual abuse, physical abuse, witnessing domestic violence, having an alcoholic parent, and parental rejection). RESULTS: There was an increased reliance on disengagement methods of coping (wishful thinking, problem avoidance, social withdrawal, and self-criticism) as a function of more extensive child abuse histories. Engagement methods of coping (problem solving, cognitive restructuring, social support, and express-emotions), however, did not show a corresponding decrease as a function of increased exposure to different types of childhood stressors and/or abuse. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that undergraduate women with cumulative adverse and/or abusive childhood histories are particularly at-risk of relying on maladaptive disengagement coping strategies to deal with various new stressors later in life.