Abstract
Coping self-efficacy is linked to adaptive coping skills and improved psychological well-being, yet few studies have examined coping self-efficacy in African American adolescents. This study examined change over time in African American adolescents' coping self-efficacy and the extent to which social-contextual factors (maternal warmth and community violence exposure) and gender are associated with coping self-efficacy. Participants were 160 African American adolescents who resided in a large Midwestern city. Ninth-grade adolescents were followed through 10th grade and reported on coping self-efficacy, maternal warmth, and community violence exposure at four 6-month time intervals. Latent growth modeling was used to examine change over time in coping self-efficacy, along with the effects of social-contextual factors and gender on coping self-efficacy. Latent growth modeling results suggest that, on average, coping self-efficacy linearly declined over the course of ninth and 10th grade. Maternal warmth was associated with higher coping self-efficacy over time, whereas community violence exposure was not associated with coping self-efficacy. Girls reported a lower initial level of coping self-efficacy than boys at the start of ninth grade, but there was no difference in the slope (rate of change) of coping self-efficacy between girls and boys. Implications of study results for research and school based, culturally and contextually relevant coping skills intervention for African American adolescents are discussed. Study limitations and future directions are also described. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).