Identifying Coping Strategies in Children

Abstract

Abstract This study attempted to identify coping strategies in children undergoing stressful dental treatment. Exploratory observations and interviews were conducted with children visiting the dentist. Based upon the coping and cognitive-behavioral literature and upon the exploratory data, nine categories of coping were identified. A Behavioral Coping Observation Scale and a Cognitive Coping Interview were then developed and administered to 30 children visiting the dentist, 8-10 years of age. Both scales were found to have good interrater reliability. Normative data are presented. All nine coping categories were represented in the sample, and every child utilized at least two cognitive coping responses and one behavioral coping response. The average child in the study employed a variety of coping strategies. There was a relationship between age and type of coping strategy used. Low correlations between individual cognitive coping categories and significant correlations between individual categories and total coping scores suggest that relatively distinct forms of coping have been identified. The present study was successful in identifying and reliably classifying a range of coping strategies that children bring to a routine stressful event in their lives. Suggestions are made for using the method presented to study coping in children under other stressful conditions.