Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, Vol 58(2), Apr 2026, 116-126; doi:10.1037/cbs0000453
Coping flexibility, or changing one’s way of coping depending on context, is increasingly recognized as a key aspect in dealing with stressors. Coping flexibility, however, has yet to be assessed in the context of discrimination, a unique racialized and uncontrollable stressor with serious impacts on short- and long-term mental health. The present study examined cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal relations between discrimination, depressive symptoms and coping flexibility among a national sample of 511 Black and Latine young adults in Canada (Mage = 27.31, range = 18–34 at baseline, 71% women) assessed three times across a 1-year period. Random intercept cross-lagged panel modelling revealed that greater depressive symptoms were associated with decreases in coping flexibility and increases in reports of discrimination 6 months later. Discrimination was cross-sectionally associated with greater depression, but there were no longitudinal effects of discrimination. Discrimination was similarly unrelated to coping flexibility, but greater coping flexibility was associated with reductions in depressive symptoms 6 months later. How flexibly one copes has important implications promoting positive mental health for young adults of colour facing discrimination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)