Findings for disengagement coping as a predictor of symptoms of anxiety and depression in youth were mixed. In bivariate correlations, youth depressive symptoms and disengagement coping were positively correlated. Symptoms of anxiety were not significantly correlated with disengagement coping at this level. In linear regression analyses, disengagement coping was not a significant predictor of either symptom in youth. Disengagement coping includes strategies of orienting away from a stressful situation. While these strategies intuitively appear to be strategies that would exacerbate internalizing symptoms, these findings suggest that in the presence of primary and secondary control coping, disengagement coping in response to stress associated with parental depression is not a significant correlate of symptoms in youth. Further research is needed to explore this relationship in the context of more adaptive coping strategies. Exploration of potential moderators of the effects of disengagement coping will be an important next step in order to understand whether these strategies may work or be more harmful for some groups but not others.
