Parental Coping Strategies and Strengths in Families of Young Children with Disabilities* Sharon Lesar Judge** This study investigated the relationship between parental perceptions of coping strategies and family strengths in families of young children with disabilities. The 69 participants completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire and the Family Hardiness Index. Results indicated that the use of social supports was highly associated with family strengths. In contrast, wishful thinking, self-blame, distancing, and self-control were negatively related to family strengths. Implications for practice are discussed Key Words: family strengths, children with disabilities, parental coping, parents of disabled children. Proponents of family-centered services for young children with disabilities have advocated a strength-based approach in promoting positive family functioning (Dunst, Trivette, & Deal, 1988, 1994; Powell, Batsche, Ferro, Fox, & Dunlap, 1997; Weissbourd & Kagan, 1989). This approach assumes that all families have strengths they can build on and that the family's strengths, including the social networks and informal supports already available to and within the family, should be the foundation upon which new supports are designed or provided (Dunst et al., 1994). One goal of family-centered early intervention is to identify existing family strengths and capabilities so that interventions are built on things a particular family already does well. By using family strengths as building blocks and tools, the family becomes even stronger and more capable of supporting the well-being of individual family members and the family unit (Trivette, Dunst, Deal, Hamby, & Sexton, 1994). Since current early intervention practices call for strength-based models of family support, there is a pressing need for empirical evidence about the relationship between parental coping and the family system to guide professionals in their development of programs and provision of services for families. Families use a variety of coping strategies that may influence family functioning. The work of Pearlin and Schooler (1978) and Folkman and Lazarus (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980; Folkman & Lazarus, 1985; Folkman & Lazarus, 1986; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) indicate that coping is a major factor in the relation between stressful events and adaptational outcomes. This body of research is characterized by an interest in the different coping behaviors people employ in response to different life events. Family coping strategies can potentially strengthen or maintain family resources that serve to protect the family from the demands of stressful encounters (McCubbin et al., 1980). The various types of strengths that families possess reflect the way in which families cope and grow (Dunst et al., 1988). Lazarus and Folkman (1984) have defined coping as constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person (p. 141). According to this definition, coping includes any attempt or effort to manage stress, regardless of how well it works. Coping strategies involve efforts to alter the cause of the stress (problem-focused coping) and efforts to regulate emotional responses to the stressors (emotion-focused coping). For example, problem-focused forms of coping include active problem-solving and seeking social support as well as aggressive interpersonal efforts to alter the situation. In contrast, emotion-focused forms of coping include detaching from the situation, controlling one's feelings, wishing the problem would go away, and blaming oneself for the situation. According to Frey, Greenberg, and Fewell (1989), problem-solving is the preferred style of coping with disability-related problems. Research indicates that emotion-focused coping that involves wishful thinking, denial, or avoidance is positively related to reports of depressed moods (e. …