OBJECTIVETo investigate the coping strategies of the community-based population in Shenzhen.

METHODSTotally 5,940 subjects from the communities in Shenzhen were sampled and tested with the Simplified Coping Style questionnaire.

RESULTSThe most common coping strategies adopted by the community residents in Shenzhen were "consoling themselves" (33.1%) and "looking at the bright side of things" (31.4%), and the least adopted coping strategy was "relieving distress by smoking, drinking, taking medicine and eating" (57.8%); the strategies left out from their choices were mostly negative strategies. The scores for positive coping strategy factors of community residents in Shenzhen were greater than those of negative ones, with a mean difference of 0.43. The scores of both positive and negative coping strategy factors of these residents were significantly lower than those of general population in other mainland cities (P<0.001), with mean differences of 0.12 and 0.36, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe community residents in Shenzhen adopt mostly positive strategies for coping with frustration, which benefit their status of self-rated health.