Coping Socialization in Middle Childhood: Tests of Maternal and Paternal Influences

Abstract

A theoretical model of parental socialization of children's coping behavior is described and tested with 310 elementary school children (M age = 10.5 years). Mothers and fathers reported on the coping suggestions they made to their children, their own coping strategies, and their perceptions of the family environment. Children reported on their relationships with their parents and on their usual coping behavior. Children's coping efforts were associated with family environment, the quality of the parent-child relationship, parent's own coping, and parent coping suggestions, though these relationships differed by gender and were quite specific. Maternal data were more strongly associated with children's coping than paternal data, and active and support coping were predicted more successfully than avoidance strategies. Analyses supported a model of direct, rather than mediated, effects on children's coping. There was modest support for the interactive effects of maternal coaching and modeling on girls' active coping and boys' avoidant coping.