Purpose:  The purpose of the study was to 1) examine the relations among coping behaviors used by adolescents, trauma exposure and nightmare frequency, and 2) examine relations among behavioral and psychological functioning, nightmare frequency and coping. Background: Nightmares are a common, troublesome response to traumatic events and have been associated with numerous psychological problems. Nightmare frequency is related to adolescent psychopathology and behavior problems. Adolescents use a variety of behaviors to cope with trauma exposure.  Some coping strategies reduce distressing responses to trauma whereas others are associated with behavioral problems.

Methods: The sample (N = 371) included adolescents, ages 12-16, from two urban cohorts. A descriptive, correlational design explored effects of cumulative violence and trauma in African American and Iraqi refugee adolescents.  Teens were administered the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Adolescent Psychopathology Scale (APS), the Cumulative Trauma Scale (CTS), and the Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-COPE). Nightmare frequency was obtained from the CAPS.  Cumulative count of trauma experiences was obtained from the CTS.  Results: Regression analysis was used to examine the relations among the factors related to nightmare frequency.  Three A-COPE factors; emotional-focused coping, problem-solving coping, and cognitive coping were entered into an initial regression analysis showing only emotional-focused coping uniquely predicted nightmare frequency. Stepwise regression was used to examine the three emotion-focused coping scales (ventilating feelings, relaxing, and avoiding problems), the cumulative trauma count, gender and ethnicity. Among the emotion-focused coping scales, only ventilating feelings uniquely predicted nightmare frequency. Cumulative trauma significantly predicted nightmare frequency. Only emotion-focused coping was correlated to psychopathology and behavior problems.