Children's Coping Strategies Research Articles

Gender Differences in Coping Strategies in Children and Adolescents

Abstract. The present study focuses on gender effects and interactions between gender, type of stressful situation, and age-group in coping strategies in childhood and adolescence. The sample consisted of N = 1990 children and adolescents (957 boys, 1033 girls; grade levels 3-8). Participants responded to a coping questionnaire (Fragebogen zur Erhebung von Stress und Stressbewältigung im Kindes- und Jugendalter, SSKJ 3-8; Lohaus, Eschenbeck, Kohlmann, & Klein-Heßling, 2006 ) with the five subscales: seeking social support, problem solving, avoidant coping, palliative emotion regulation, and anger-related emotion regulation. Repeated measures ANOVAs with Gender and Grade Level as the between-subject factors and Situation (social, academic) as the within-subject factor were performed separately for each of the subscales. In general, girls scored higher in seeking social support and problem solving, whereas boys scored higher in avoidant coping. These three main effects were further modified by significant Gender × Situation interactions and for both seeking social support and avoidant coping by significant Gender × Situation × Grade Level interactions. Compared to the academic situation (homework), gender differences were more pronounced for the social situation (argument with a friend), especially in adolescence. The results are discussed with respect to a gender-specific development of coping strategies.

Children's coping strategies and coping efficacy: Relations to parent socialization, child adjustment, and familial alcoholism

The relations of children's coping strategies and coping efficacy to parent socialization and child adjustment were examined in a sample of school-age children that included families in which some of the grandparents and/or parents had an alcoholism diagnosis. Parents and older children reported on the children's coping strategies; parents reported on their parenting behavior; and teachers reported on children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Measures of parent socialization were associated with parents' and children's reports of active coping strategies and parents' reports of both support-seeking coping and coping efficacy. Some of these relations were moderated by familial alcohol status. Children higher in parent-reported active/support-seeking coping and coping efficacy were rated lower in teacher-reported externalizing and internalizing adjustment problems. The findings were consistent with the view that active/support-seeking coping and coping efficacy mediated the association of parent socialization to children's psychological adjustment and that this relation was sometimes moderated by parental alcohol status.

What do Tanzanian children worry about?

This paper explores the worries of children in a sample of 8- to 15-year-old children, drawn from three primary schools on the outskirts of Moshi, Tanzania. Data about children's worries were collected by two methods. First, lists of worries were generated by 270 children who gave a total of 3 409 statements. The worries they expressed were categorised and condensed into 55 questions on a questionnaire designed to measure the frequency of the most common worries. In part two, 978 children participated by filling in this questionnaire. The majority of the children's worries fell into four categories: education, health, care/abuse and safety issues. The children elaborated on worries within each of these groups, whether or not they themselves were affected by HIV/AIDS through orphan-hood. However, their statements demonstrate their serious concern with the epidemic in the community and society. Concern for others above self is mirrored in the children's worries, reflecting the collective orientation of the local culture. Finally, ways that this knowledge may be utilised to strengthen children's coping strategies are discussed.

Parent–Child Emotional Communication and Children's Coping in Middle Childhood

AbstractParent–child communication regarding children's negative emotions and coping were examined in a sample of 75 5th graders (53% boys) and their mothers and fathers. We predicted that emotionally open communication between a parent and his or her child would be related to children's use of constructive coping strategies. Parents reported on how they react to their child's negative emotions, and children reported on how much they share their negative feelings with each parent. Additionally, emotional communication was measured during a parent–child discussion task involving an event that was upsetting to the child. The results indicated that emotional communication, as reported by mothers, fathers, and children, as well as mother–child observed communication, were related to children's coping strategies. The findings point to a need to assess emotional communication using multiple measures that tap both the child's and the parents’ perspectives and that use different methodologies.

Cultural variations in children's coping behaviour, TV viewing time, and family functioning

To examine children's coping behaviour, TV viewing hours and family functioning in four ethnic groups and factors related to children's coping behaviour. This study was part of two larger research projects investigating children's health behaviours in the United States and Taiwan. Fifty-six White American children of European ancestry, 66 Mexican American children, 68 Chinese American children and 95 native Taiwanese children were included in the analysis. Standardized instruments were used to measure coping strategies, children's TV viewing hours and family functioning. There were significant differences in the types of stressor that children of different ethnicity reported. Similarities and differences were found in the four ethnic groups regarding the top five most frequently used and most effective coping strategies. Multiple regressions identified two variables that contributed significantly to the variance in the frequency of children's coping strategies--ethnicity and poorer behaviour control in the family. Ethnicity was the only variable found to contribute to the variance in coping effectiveness. Significant differences were found in the number of hours children spent watching TV. Findings suggest that children of different ethnicity utilized different types of coping strategies and ethnicity is one of the important factors related to children's coping behaviour. These findings provide evidence for nurses to assess children's coping behaviour and TV viewing and provide children with healthier alternatives.

Resilient Children of Injection Drug Users

To examine associations between resilience in children of injection drug users and children's coping strategies, parenting stress, and children's social support. Injection drug-using parents (n=91) and their children aged 6 to 11 (n=117) were recruited in Baltimore (1997-1999). Resilience was defined as scoring in the lowest quartile of the Child Behavior Checklist total psychopathology score. Coping strategies used by resilient and nonresilient children, the extent and types of social support that they received, and the level of parenting stress reported by their parents were compared and contrasted. Rates of depressive, anxiety, and disruptive behavior disorders were 15.4%, 22.2%, and 21.4%, respectively, for the entire sample. Compared with the nonresilient, resilient children were less likely to use two avoidance coping strategies (internalizing [p=.002] and externalizing [p=.017]). The level of actual support received by resilient and nonresilient children did not differ significantly (p=.202). Perceived support was greater among resilient children (as reported by their parents; p <.001), and their parents reported lower parenting stress (p=.042). A significant proportion of children of injection drug users are in need of clinical care. Interventions to help children of substance-abusing parents modify their coping style merit exploration.

The Politics of Terror: Rereading Harry Potter

This article claims that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, with its use of magic, frightening storylines, and character ambiguity is beneficial to children who are dealing with issues related to terror and terrorism. The author explains that the scenarios presented in Rowling's series teach children strategies for coping with both physical and psychological victimization, and argues that the series explores morality issues, allowing child readers to analyze terror-related questions such as why some people are considered evil, why difference is often believed to be bad, and why good people do bad things. It is acknowledged that many critics believe that the same elements claimed as beneficial in the essay are actually immoral and dangerous to child readers. These critics' evaluations are countered in two ways: first, the author uses expert evidence to demonstrate that children are capable of distinguishing between fantasy and reality by the age of 5, making fantasy the most viable means for children to cope with terror; and second, the author examines and interprets specific passages within the series to demonstrate how various scenes lead children to explore important, yet frightening issues while remaining in an emotionally safe state. The author concludes that the series has proven to be more beneficial than harmful by presenting evidence gathered from actual child readers who state that the Harry Potter series has allowed them to confront and cope with terror and terrorism in their own lives.

Pitfalls of the peer world: how children cope with common rejection experiences.

This study examines the reliability and validity of a newly developed self-report measure designed to assess children's coping strategies in response to everyday rejection experiences. The Survey for Coping with Rejection Experiences (SCORE) was administered to 225 children and factor analysis of responses resulted in the conceptually meaningful subscales of active, aggressive, denial, and ruminative coping. A subset of 95 children also completed a battery of self- (depression, social anxiety), parent- (internalizing and externalizing problems), and peer- (social preference, aggression, withdrawal) ratings of socioemotional adjustment. Children's coping strategies were meaningfully associated with adjustment measures, although these associations differed for boys and girls in several instances. Importantly, both aggressive and ruminative coping strategies were positively associated with internalizing problems even after controlling for the effect of children's actual sociometric status. In addition, denial coping emerged as a significant moderator of the relation between status and adjustment.

Child Characteristics as Moderators of the Association Between Family Stress and Children's Internalizing, Externalizing, and Peer Rejection

We examined child characteristics of coping strategies, age, and gender as moderators of the association between family stressors and internalizing, externalizing, and peer rejection in a sample of 228 3rd–5th grade children. Consistent with previous research, children in the current study who experienced a higher number of family stressors were significantly less well-accepted by classmates. This association was not moderated by children's coping strategies or child age. Child gender did moderate the association between family stressors and internalizing behavior. Specifically, as the number of stressors increased, internalizing behavior decreased among girls, but not boys. The results are discussed in terms of the role of child variables in explaining the variability in children's responses to family stress.

Quality of life, coping strategies, and family routines in children with headache.

To identify the relationship between headache severity, child coping, and quality of life (QoL) in the context of everyday family life. In the pediatric headache research only 3 studies have examined children's coping strategies and only 4 studies considered QoL. A sample of 48 Italian families with children seeking treatment for primary headaches was interviewed using an adaptation of the Ecocultural Family Interview (EFI). The EFI is a parent interview that explores the daily routines of family life in which the child and parent participate and the main concerns regarding how that routine is organized. As expected the Lisrel analyses consistently showed that QoL is affected by a child's coping abilities in a causal direction. Headache frequency and duration have a significant impact on a child's QoL. The family daily routine influences significantly both the child's coping ability and QoL. Surprisingly enough, children's coping strategies are not related to headache severity. More research is needed on the causal factors influencing child's ability to cope with pain, and in particular more attention should be devoted to the contextual and family factors related to pediatric headache.

Children's coping strategies: Moderators of the effects of peer victimization?

Coping strategies were examined as potential moderators of the effects of peer victimization on children's adjustment. Self-report data on victimization experiences, coping strategies, and loneliness were collected on ethnically diverse 9-10-year-old children (177 girls, 179 boys). Teacher ratings of children's anxious-depressed and social problems and peer nominations of social preference were also obtained. Findings revealed that strategies such as problem solving that were beneficial for nonvictimized children exacerbated difficulties for victimized children. The effects of specific forms of coping were dependent on gender: social support seeking buffered victimized girls from social problems but was associated with lower peer preference for victimized boys. Data also revealed the need to examine the effects of coping on multiple adjustment outcomes.

Measuring Coping in Low-Income European American, African American, and Mexican American Adolescents: An Examination of Measurement Equivalence

We examined the cross-ethnic and cross-language equivalence of the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist (Ayers, T.S., Sandler, I.N., West, S.G. and Roosa, M.W. (1996). A dispositional and situational assessment of children's coping: Testing alternative models of coping. Journal of Personality , 64 (4), 923-958) by assessing item, functional, and scalar equivalence in a sample of 319 European American, African American, and Mexican American adolescents from low-income inner-city families. Depression, as measured by Children's Depression Inventory, was the criterion in the analyses of scalar equivalence. The results suggest considerable cross-ethnic and cross-language measurement equivalence of the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist. The findings also suggest some caution in using the Children's Depression Inventory in comparative studies of African American and Mexican American adolescents or in studies that treat these groups as homogeneous samples.

How do children understand and cope with domestic violence?

Domestic violence frequently has serious impacts on children. This article draws on the findings of a recent study within the ESRC Children 5-16: Growing into the 21st Century Research Programme which examined children's understandings and coping strategies in regards to domestic violence. Far from being passive victims of the violence, children and young people in the study showed themselves to be social actors in their own lives, frequently taking responsibility for thinking through the options and possible outcomes carefully. However, they had rarely been listened to. It seems that professionals still do not take the opinions of the children of abused women they work with very seriously as sources of solutions and potential ways forward. The research demonstrated that children use wide-ranging, and often creative, coping strategies, even though the 'protective factors' which experts have identified as being essential for positive coping are very frequently precisely those that are absent in cases of domestic violence. In the study, the only protective factor which was often present was secure attachment to the non-abusing parent, the mother (even if this relationship was also conflicted). This emphasises the importance of the developing practice of social workers working supportively with mothers and their children together, to build on the strengths of the relationships between them (using both individual and, increasingly, groupwork approaches). The findings discussed here may assist social workers in developing practice more sensitive to both women and children's needs, and more attentive to children's voices and views.

Children's coping strategies: moderators of the effects of peer victimization?

Coping strategies were examined as potential moderators of the effects of peer victimization on children's adjustment. Self-report data on victimization experiences, coping strategies, and loneliness were collected on ethnically diverse 9-10-year-old children (177 girls, 179 boys). Teacher ratings of children's anxious-depressed and social problems and peer nominations of social preference were also obtained. Findings revealed that strategies such as problem solving that were beneficial for nonvictimized children exacerbated difficulties for victimized children. The effects of specific forms of coping were dependent on gender: social support seeking buffered victimized girls from social problems but was associated with lower peer preference for victimized boys. Data also revealed the need to examine the effects of coping on multiple adjustment outcomes.

Children's action-control behaviors (coping): A longitudinal validation of the behavioral inventory of strategic control

Integrating multi-axial models with an action-theory perspective, we propose that children's coping strategies vary along four dimensions of strategic behavioral control: Direct Action, Indirect Action, Prosocial Action, and Antisocial Action. The Behavioral Inventory of Strategic Control (BISC) assesses these four general dimensions of strategic control. We contrast these four axial dimensions with six specific strategic combinations: Avoidance (Indirect-Antisocial), Emotional Support Seeking (Indirect-Prosocial), Social Exploitation (Indirect-Antisocial), Social Cooperation (Direct-Prosocial), Aggressive Individualism (Direct-Antisocial) and Hostility (Indirect-Antisocial). In a short-term longitudinal study (three occasions over four months) of 318 children (grades 2–6), we examined the validity of the BISC, showing that the hypothesized dimensional structure of children's strategic control behavior was strongly supported.

Recovery work with child victims of sexual abuse: A framework for intervention

With each high profile case of sexual assault perpetrated against a child there generally follows a media driven reaction narrowly focusing on stranger danger or paedophile activity The difficulty is that this can present the false impression that therein lies the greatest danger to our children. The situation with which parentdcarers, and professionals, are faced with in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse is much more complex for a variety of reasons. These include the fact that such abuse is mostly perpetrated by a member of the family or a close friend of the family or child; there are many cases of crossgenerational and sibling abuse; there is often fragmentation of families following disclosure; the immense challenge to strongly held beliefs regarding familv, society and religious values; and thaf a child's coping strategies often involves blocking out the abuse, disassociation and extreme forms of self-harm. Much good literature exists on the phenomenon of child sexual abuse. However, there is a lack of written material on models of therapeutic intervention, and to engage in this area of work in the absence of a well thought-out framework for intervention would be highly irresponsible and dangerous. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issue of intervention and in setting out a framework for intervention, the premise is followed that the child is not abused in isolation, but within a family and community context. For this reason theoretical considerations relating to victim impact, family functioning, social learning and developmental stages will be viewed as underpinning practice.

Evaluating the role of play therapy in the paediatric emergency department

Play Therapy is arguably one of the most important adjuncts in preparing children for painful and invasive procedures. It provides developmentally appropriate methods to facilitate the child's coping strategies when faced with new stresses and strains of hospitalisation. With this knowledge Australian hospitals have utilised this essential service in inpatient settings. Innovations in paediatric emergency care at the Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick have recognised the need for a designated Play Therapist as an integral part of the Emergency Department team. It was this innovation that inspired the need to evaluate the impact of play therapy on children requiring a needle related procedure. Results showed that the presence of a play therapist was well accepted by children, parents, nurses and medical staff. It is concluded that play therapy has an important if not essential role in the paediatric emergency setting.

At-Risk for Diabetes: Coping with the News

This study assessed 37 children's and 38 adults', as well as their family members' (39 mothers and 26 spouses), coping responses to the news that they (or a loved one) were islet-cell antibody positive (ICA+) and at risk for type 1 diabetes. The Ways of Coping Checklist (WCC) was administered ∼4 months after ICA+ notification and at follow-up ∼10 months later. Participants' state anxiety was measured a few days after ICA+ notification and again ∼4 months later, at the time of the initial WCC administration. Children's coping strategies differed from those of adults, and mothers' coping strategies differed from spouses'. Initial state anxiety in response to ICA+ notification was related to how participants subsequently coped with the news. Coping, in turn, was related to maintenance of state anxiety over time.

Coping strategies and behavior problems of urban African-American children: concurrent and longitudinal relationships.

The development and correlates of 82 inner-city African-American children's coping strategies were examined across three years. Results indicated no change in the mean frequency of self-reported coping strategies over the three years, and a significant correlation of emotion-focused strategies with increased self- and mother-reported behavior problems. Child-reported externalizing problems (and, to a lesser degree, internalizing problems) predicted changes in coping strategies across assessments.

Children of Divorce

The purpose of this paper was to examine the developmental effects of parental divorce on children in four age groups (i.e., infancy/ toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood). Research has demonstrated both positive and negative outcomes for these children. A recent model of adjustment (Portes, Haas, & Brown, 1991) suggests four factors that correlate highly with adjustment to divorce, including child coping skills, pre- and post-divorce family functioning and stability, external social support systems, and post-divorce conditions. Further review of the literature yielded family dynamics (i.e., family conflict) versus family structure (i.e., divorced versus intact) as a more powerful predictor of children's adjustment. In addition, internal social support (i.e., a supportive family environment) has been found to reinforce positive coping strategies. Based on these findings, a pre- and post-divorce adjustment model for children was constructed. This model illustrates that the conduit through which social support (internal and external), family functioning, and family conflict influence adjustment (positive or negative) is children's coping strategies.