Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Problems, progress, and potential in theory and research.

TLDR

The review highlights both progress and remaining problems in conceptualizing and measuring coping in childhood and adolescence, noting that many developmental aspects and correlates are still unidentified. The authors outline an agenda for future research on child‑adolescent coping. They define coping, describe its links to temperament and stress reactivity, evaluate questionnaire, interview, and observation measures for reliability and validity, and review studies linking coping to psychopathology, social, and academic competence. Initial progress in conceptualizing and measuring coping has yielded substantial evidence linking coping to adjustment.

Abstract

Progress and issues in the study of coping with stress during childhood and adolescence are reviewed. Definitions of coping are considered, and the relationship between coping and other aspects of responses to stress (e.g., temperament and stress reactivity) is described. Questionnaire, interview, and observation measures of child and adolescent coping are evaluated with regard to reliability and validity. Studies of the association of coping with symptoms of psychopathology and social and academic competence are reviewed. Initial progress has been made in the conceptualization and measurement of coping, and substantial evidence has accumulated on the association between coping and adjustment. Problems still remain in the conceptualization and measurement of coping in young people, however, and aspects of the development and correlates of coping remain to be identified. An agenda for future research on child-adolescent coping is outlined.