Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Emotion, controllability and orientation towards stress as correlates of children’s coping with interpersonal stress

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Motivation and Emotion Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Guided by the motivational theory of coping (Skinner and Zimmer-Gembeck in Ann Rev Psychol 58:119–144. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085705, 2007), we investigated children’s anticipated coping with three different stressful events (bullying, parental argument, parent–child verbal conflict), and examined whether their reliance on challenge coping responses versus threat coping responses could be accounted for by emotional reactions (including feelings of sadness, anger and fear), perceived controllability, and orientation or interest in the stressor. In addition, we examined parents’ reports of their children’s temperamental traits as correlates of coping. In random order followed by a positive stimulus, children (N = 206, age 8–12 years) watched each of the three stressful events, and reported their emotions, perceived control, orientation and coping after each one. As anticipated, results indicated that controllability was associated with more challenge coping (a composite of adaptive/approach coping responses such as problem solving and support seeking) and less threat coping (a composite of maladaptive/withdrawal coping responses such as helplessness and escape). In general, feelings of sadness were more strongly associated with challenge coping, whereas fear and anger especially related to more threat coping. Greater orientation towards the stressor was particularly predictive of more challenge coping, but also was associated with more threat coping in response to parent stressors. These associations were significant, even after controlling for temperament (negative reactivity, task persistence, withdrawal, and activity), which was generally unrelated to children’s coping. Other combinations of coping responses were also examined.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aldwin, C. M. (2007). Stress, coping, and development: An integrative approach (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayers, T. S., Sandler, I. N., West, S. G., & Roosa, M. W. (1996). A dispositional and situational assessment of children’s coping: Testing alternative models of coping. Journal of Personality, 64, 923–958.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, L. F. (2006). Solving the emotion paradox: Categorization and the experience of emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 20–46. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1001_2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, K. C., & Campos, J. J. (1987). Perspectives on emotional development II: A functionalist approach to emotions. In J. D. Osofsky (Ed.), Handbook of Infant Development (2nd ed., pp. 555–578). Oxford: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, L. F., Gross, J., Christensen, T. C., & Benvenuto, M. (2001). Knowing what you’re feeling and knowing what to do about it: Mapping the relation between emotion differentiation and emotion regulation. Cognition and Emotion, 15, 713–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brody, L. R., Lovas, G. S., & Hay, D. H. (1995). Gender differences in anger and fear as a function of situational context. Sex Roles, 32, 47–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buss, K. A. (2011). Which fearful toddlers should we worry about? Developmental Psychology, 47, 804–819.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buss, K. A., & Goldsmith, H. H. (1998). Fear and anger regulation in infancy: Effects on the temporal dynamics of affective expression. Child Development, 69, 359–374.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carson, D. K., & Bittner, M. T. (1994). Temperament and school-aged children’s coping abilities and responses to stress. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 155, 289–302.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carver, C. S., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2009). Anger is an approach-related affect: Evidence and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 183–204. doi:10.1037/a0013965.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, C., Lau, H. P., & Chan, M. P. S. (2014). Coping flexibility and psychological adjustment to stress life changes: A meta-analytic review. Psychologiclal Bulletin, 140, 1582–1607.

  • Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (2009). Adaptive coping under conditions of extreme stress: Multilevel influences on the determinants of resilience in maltreated children. In E. A. Skinner & M. J. Zimmer-Gembeck (Eds.), Coping and the development of regulation. A volume for the series, R. W. Larson & L. A. Jensen (Eds.-in-Chief), New directions in child and adolescent development (pp. 47–59). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. doi:10.1002/cd.242

  • Clarke, A. T. (2006). Coping with interpersonal stress and psychosocial health among children and adolescents: A meta-analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 11–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compas, B. E., Connor-Smith, J. K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A. H., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 87–127. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.1.87.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Derryberry, D., Reed, M. A., & Pilkenton-Taylor, C. (2003). Temperament and coping: Advantages of an individual differences perspective. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 1049–1066. doi:10.1017/S0954579403000439.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ebata, A. T., & Moos, R. H. (1994). Personal, situational, and contextual correlates of coping in adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 4, 99–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Nyman, M., Bernzweig, J., & Pinuelas, A. (1994). The relations of emotionality and regulation to children’s anger-related reactions. Child Development, 65, 109–128.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Flynn, M., & Rudolph, K. D. (2010). The contribution of deficits in emotional clarity to stress responses and depression. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 291–297. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2010.04.004.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2004). Coping: Pitfalls and promise. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 745–774. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141456.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, K. E., Compas, B. E., Stuhlmacher, A. F., Thurm, A. E., McMahon, S. D., & Halpert, J. A. (2003). Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: Moving from markers to mechanisms of risk. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 447–466.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jaser, S. S., Champion, J. E., Reeslund, K., Keller, G., Merchant, M. J., Benson, M., et al. (2007). Cross-situational coping with peer and family stressors in adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Journal of Adolescence, 30, 917–932.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kliewer, W. (1991). Coping in middle childhood: Relations to competence, Type A behavior, monitoring, blunting, and locus of control. Developmental Psychology, 27, 689–697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kochenderfer-Ladd, B. (2004). Peer victimization: The role of emotions in adaptive and maladaptive coping. Social Development, 13, 329–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langrock, A. M., Compas, B. E., Keller, G., Merchant, M. J., & Copeland, M. E. (2002). Coping with the stress of parental depression: Parents’ reports of children’s coping, emotional, and behavioral problems. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 312–324.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen, J. T., To, Y. M., & Fireman, G. (2007). Children’s understanding and experience of mixed emotions. Psychological Science, 18, 186–191.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion. American Psychologist, 46(8), 819–834.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lengua, L. J., & Long, A. C. (2002). The role of emotionality and self-regulation in the appraisal coping process: Tests of direct and moderating effects. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 23, 471–493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lengua, L. J., & Sandler, I. S. (1996). Self-regulation as a moderator of the relation between coping and symptomatology in children of divorce. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 24, 681–701.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lengua, L. J., Sandler, I. N., West, S. G., Wolchik, S. A., & Curan, P. J. (1999a). Emotionality and self-regulation, threat appraisal, and coping in children of divorce. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 15–37.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lengua, L. J., Sandler, I. N., West, S. G., Wolchik, S. A., & Curan, P. J. (1999b). Emotionality and self-regulation, threat appraisal, and coping in children of divorce. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 15–37.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lengua, L. J., & Stormshak, E. (2000). Gender, gender roles and personality: Gender differences in the prediction of coping and psychological symptoms. Sex Roles, 43, 787–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Losoya, S., Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. A. (1998). Developmental issues in the study of coping. International Journal of Behavior Development, 22, 287–313. doi:10.1080/016502598384388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackie, D. M., Devos, T., & Smith, E. R. (2000). Intergroup emotions: Explaining offensive action tendencies in an intergroup context. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 602–616.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mattlin, J. A., Wetherington, E., & Kessler, R. C. (1990). Situational determinants of coping and coping effectiveness. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 31, 103–122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mavroveli, S., Petrides, K. V., Rieffe, C., & Bakker, F. (2007). Trait emotional intelligence, psychological well-being, and peer-rated social competence in adolescence. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 25, 263–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClowry, S. G. (1995). The temperament profiles of school-age children. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 17, 3–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikolajczak, M., Nelis, D., Hansenne, M., & Quoidbach, J. (2008). If you can regulate sadness, you can probably regulate shame: Associations between trait emotional intelligence, emotion regulation and coping efficiency across discrete emotions. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 1356–1368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S., & Green, M. L. (1990). Coping with stress and frustration: Origins, nature, and development. In M. Lewis & C. Saarni (Eds.), The socialization of emotions (pp. 263–314). New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, L., & Moriarity, A. (1976). Vulnerability, coping, and growth: From infancy to adolescence. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, C. L., Armeli, S., & Tennen, H. (2004). Appraisal-coping goodness of fit: A daily Internet study. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 558–569.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pearlin, L. I., & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roesch, S. C., & Weiner, B. (2001). A meta-analytic review of coping with illness: Do causal attributions matter? Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 50, 205–219.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roth, G., Benita, M., Amrani, C., Shachar, B., Asoulin, H., Moed, A., et al. (2014). Integration of negative emotional experience versus suppression: Addressing the question of adaptive functioning. Emotion, 14, 908–919.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roth, S., & Cohen, L. (1986). Approach, avoidance, and coping with stress. American Psychology, 41, 813–819.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rothbart, M. K. (2011). Becoming who we are: Temperament and personality in development. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothbart, M. K., Derryberry, D., & Posner, M. I. (1994). A psychobiological approach to the development of temperament. In J. E. Bates & T. D. Wachs (Eds.), Temperament: Individual differences at the interface of biology and behavior (pp. 83–116). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rothbaum, F., Weisz, J. R., & Snyder, S. S. (1982). Changing the world and changing the self: A two process model of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 5–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rueda, M. R., & Rothbart, M. K. (2009). The influence of temperament on the development of coping: The role of maturation and experience. In E. A. Skinner & M. Zimmer-Gembeck (Eds.), Coping and the development of regulation. A volume for the series, R. W. Larson & L. A. Jensen (Eds.-in-Chief), New directions in child and adolescent development (pp. 19–32). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. doi:10.1002/cd.239

  • Ryan, R. M., Deci, E. L., Grolnick, W. S., & La Guardia, J. G. (2006). The significance of autonomy and autonomy support in psychological development and psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Theory and method (Vol. 1, pp. 795–849). New Jersey: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saklofske, D. H., Austin, E. J., Galloway, J., & Davidson, K. (2007). Individual difference correlates of health-related behaviours: Preliminary evidence for links between emotional intelligence and coping. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 491–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, E. A. (1995). Perceived control, motivation, and coping. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, E. A., Edge, K., Altman, J., & Sherwood, H. (2003). Searching for the structure of coping: A review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 216–269. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.2.216.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, E. A., & Wellborn, J. G. (1994). Coping during childhood and adolescence: A motivational perspective. In D. Featherman, R. Lerner, & M. Perlmutter (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (pp. 91–133). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, E. A., & Wellborn, J. G. (1997). Children’s coping in the academic domain. In S. Wolchik & I. A. Sandler (Eds.), Handbook of children’s coping: Linking theory and intervention (pp. 387–422). New York: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, E. A., & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J. (2007). The development of coping. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 119–144. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085705.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, E. A., & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J. (2009). Challenges to the developmental study of coping. In E. A. Skinner & M. J. Zimmer-Gembeck (Eds.), Coping and the development of regulation. A volume for the series, R. W. Larson & L. A. Jensen (Eds.-in-Chief), New directions in child and adolescent development (pp. 5–17). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. doi:10.1002/cd.239

  • Skinner, E. A., & Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J. (2011). Perceived control and the development of coping. In S. Folkman (Ed.) & P. E. Nathan (Series Editor), The Oxford handbook of health, stress and coping (pp. 35–62). New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Sorgen, K. E., & Manne, S. L. (2002). Coping in children with cancer: Examining the goodness-of-fit hypothesis. Children’s Health Care, 31, 191–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sroufe, L. A. (1996). Emotional development: The organization of emotional life in the early years. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., & Stanton, A. L. (2007). Coping resources, coping processes, and mental health. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 3, 377–401.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Valentiner, D. P., Holahan, C. J., & Moos, R. H. (1994). Social support, appraisals of event controllability, and coping: An integrative model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 1094–1102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, N., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). When helping helps: Autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its influence on well-being for the helper and recipient. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 222–244.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Lees, D., Bradley, G., & Skinner, E. A. (2009). Use of an analogue method to examine children’s appraisals of threat and emotion in response to stressful events. Motivation and Emotion, 33, 136–149. doi:10.1007/s11031-009-9123-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Lees, D., & Skinner, E. A. (2011). Children’s emotions and coping with interpersonal stress as correlates of social competence. Australian Journal of Psychology, 63, 131–141. doi:10.1111/j.1742-9536.2011.00019.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Skinner, E. A. (2011). The development of coping across childhood and adolescence: An integrative review and critique of research. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35, 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Skinner, E. A. (in press). The development of coping and regulation: Implications for psychopathology and resilience. In D. Cicchetti (Ed.), Developmental psychopathology (2nd ed., Vol. 4, pp. 485–544). Oxford: Wiley.

  • Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Skinner, E. A., Morris, H., & Thomas, R. (2013). Anticipated coping with interpersonal stressors: Links with the emotional reactions of sadness, anger, and fear. The Journal of Early Adolescence. doi:10.1177/0272431612466175.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied and Menzies Health Institute of Queensland, Griffith University, Southport, Queensland, Australia

    Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck

  2. Department of Developmental, Personality, and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Stijn Van Petegem

  3. Department of Psychology, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Ellen A. Skinner

Authors
  1. Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stijn Van Petegem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ellen A. Skinner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck.

Appendix

Appendix

MTC-12 items

If this was happening and someone was bullying you (your parents were arguing, you and your parent were having a conflict or fight)…what would you do?

  • …deal with the situation on my own (self-reliance)

  • …do something to work on solving the problem (problem-solving)

  • …accept the situation (accommodation)

  • …go to someone (like a parent or teacher) for support (support seeking)

  • …find out more information about the situation (information seeking)

  • …try to work out the situation with the other person (negotiation)

  • …let somebody else deal with the situation (delegation)

  • …do nothing (helplessness)

  • …feel like it is not even worth trying to deal with the situation (submission)

  • …want to go off to be by myself (isolation)

  • …get away from the situation as fast as possible (escape)

  • …fight to change the situation (opposition)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zimmer-Gembeck, M.J., Van Petegem, S. & Skinner, E.A. Emotion, controllability and orientation towards stress as correlates of children’s coping with interpersonal stress. Motiv Emot 40, 178–191 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9520-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-015-9520-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation