Responsibility as a predictor of coping strategy selection among young people

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of coping strategy selection among young people with varying levels of responsibility, highlighting that responsibility is a systemic personality trait. Responsibility enables individuals to shape their lives and overcome obstacles in pursuit of their goals; the level of responsibility as well as its characteristics can predict coping strategy selection. The study aims to determine whether responsibility serves as a predictor of coping strategy selection and to identify which specific characteristics of responsibility influence the choice of particular coping strategies. University students participated in the study, with the sample structured according to age and gender. The study employed a deductive-regression design, including multiple regression analysis to determine the predictive relationship between responsibility level and coping strategy selection (using the “Stepwise” method), Scheffe's Test to control for errors in the constructed models, and comparative analysis using the Mann-Whitney U test. The findings indicate that respondents with a tendency towards high responsibility significantly preferred coping strategies such as “problem-solving planning” and “assertive actions.” In contrast, those with lower responsibility were statistically more likely to choose strategies like “escape-avoidance,” “distancing,” “aggressive actions,” and “asocial actions.” A tendency for harmonious responsibility characteristics to be associated with constructive coping strategies was identified, with young people displaying higher responsibility favoring more constructive and prosocial strategies. Conversely, lower responsibility levels were linked to less constructive and more asocial coping behaviors. The revealed multidimensionality and complexity of the relationship between individual responsibility characteristics and coping strategy selection suggest promising avenues for further research into probabilistic models of these relationships, including stable/unstable and harmonious/disharmonious dynamics.