Adolescence is a developmental period in which the individual is confronted
not only with a dramatic change in body contours, but at the same time, a series
of complex and interrelated developmental tasks that have to be mastered, such
as achieving independence from parents, establishing romantic relationships, and
developing an occupational identity ( Havighurst, 1953). Of special relevance is
the way adolescents cope with these normative demands, which are manifested
in numerous minor events. It should be acknowledged, however, that the theo-
retical conceptualization of stress and coping in adolescence has changed. Con-
cerning stress, the earlier crisis model gave way to more appropriate concepts
that considered the productive way of coping with stressors in various domains.
Conceptualizations of adolescent coping were strongly tied to the research on
adults, and the idea of adolescent-specific stressors, which were so important for
the theory of stress, was not pursued. Instruments frequently were based on those
developed for adults and, as a rule, they only assessed global stressors and did
not consider the unique demands of this age group.

In this chapter, I present the results of the survey study (Study 3). The
development of appropriate measurement techniques for assessing stress and cop-
ing in adolescent populations has high priority in this study. A major issue then
is to examine different minor stressors and the ways in which adolescents cope
with them. Another important question concerns individual differences among
adolescents. Do youngsters in early and mid-adolescence use different strategies
in coping with the same problems? And, compared to research on adults, what
can be said about gender differences in coping with minor events?

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