Abstract
Coping is central to the transgenerational transmission of psychopathology, yet little is known about coping strategies used by emerging adult offspring of parents with mental illness or their links to mental health. This cross-sectional online study, conducted in Germany, compared coping in 18–30-year-olds with versus without parental mental illness (N = 139). Offspring of parents with mental illness reported more behavioral disengagement (partial η² = .03, p = .036) and less positive reframing (partial η² = .04, p = .027). Greater substance use (b = 4.50, p = .031) and self-blame (b = 7.77, p = .001) were associated with more psychopathology symptoms, and greater substance use (b = −.21, p = .027) and self-blame (b = −.28, p = .008) with poorer positive mental health. Findings highlight the important role of coping and its links to mental health in emerging adults with parents with mental illness and point to areas which could be targeted by interventions.
Summary
Keywords
coping strategies, emerging adult children of parents with a mental illness, Mentalhealth, Parental mental illness, transgenerational transmission of psychopathology
Received
04 December 2025
Accepted
16 March 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Sawitzki and Großheinrich. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Franziska Sawitzki
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