Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 School Mental Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-018-9288-x ORIGINAL PAPER Measuring Adolescent Coping Styles Following a Natural Disaster: An ESEM Analysis of the Kidcope Tara M. Powell 1  · Kate M. Wegmann 1  · Stacy Overstreet 2 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract The ways in which youth cope with the following traumatic experiences have a critical impact on resilience and recovery, yet few measures adequately assess adolescent coping behaviors while exhibiting sound psychometric properties. The cur- rent study uses exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) to analyze data from the Kidcope, an assessment tool that is widely used in both clinical and research settings. A total of 652 hurricane-afected adolescent females completed the Kidcope approximately 6 months following Hurricane Katrina. ESEM results yielded a four-factor model including positive coping, blame and anger, wishful thinking, and social withdrawal. The coping behaviors represented in the four latent fac- tors are consistent with results of a previous study of a hurricane-afected White, middle-class sample; however, they difer from the coping behaviors used by primarily Black, lower-income sample experiencing the same disaster. Results indicate that demographic and cultural characteristics may be strong infuences in determining children’s coping styles and behaviors and should be taken into account when providing services to help youth recover. Keywords Coping · Mental health · Adolescents · Exploratory structural equation modeling · Natural disaster · Measurement Introduction Hurricane Katrina, a category 3 storm that struck the USA in August 2005, caused unprecedented damage to those living in communities in the Gulf Coast. Hundreds of thousands of families were displaced, properties were destroyed, and individuals and communities sufered signifcant fnancial loss (Osofsky, Osofsky, Kronenberg, Brennan, & Hansel, 2009). Louisiana was among the hardest hit, with over 1500 deaths linked to the storm, 875 schools damaged, and economic costs exceeding 200 billion dollars (Hanemann, 2008; Burby, 2006). It can take years to recover from weather-related disasters such as Hurricane Katrina that impact individuals, families, and communities (Gewirtz, Forgatch, & Wieling, 2008; La Greca & Silverman, 2009). Children and young people are among the most vulnerable to the physical and psychologi- cal impacts of natural disasters (National Commission on Children in Disasters, 2010). They have fewer skills, expe- riences, and resources than adults to meet their needs and often sufer from psychological distress from these events, which may afect their ability to thrive over the short and long term (Garrett et al., 2007; Masten & Osofsky, 2010). Given their heightened vulnerability, children and youth are at a disproportionate risk for a host of negative mental health outcomes. Common mental health symptoms associated with disasters include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety (Kar & Bastia, 2006; Kar, 2009). The way a child copes with a traumatic event is funda- mental to their recovery. Types of coping have been clearly linked to a child’s emotional reaction to a trauma such as a disaster. For example, social support and collective coping have been connected to lower levels of PTSD in long-term Drs. Powell and Wegmann share frst authorship of this manuscript. They are listed alphabetically and share corresponding author responsibilities. * Tara M. Powell tlpowell@illinois.edu * Kate M. Wegmann kwegmann@illinois.edu 1 School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana— Champaign, 1010 W. Nevada St., Urbana, IL 61801, USA 2 Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 3019 Percival Stern Hall, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA