Abstract
In exploring how elementary school children cope with being physically different, this study of twenty children who are also experiencing academic difficulty found that 85% used five defensive-adaptive techniques at least several times a week to protect their sense of self and self-worth from a mental representation of body image as different or defective. Significant differences in coping style were identified between children born with physical differences and children acquiring these differences later in that members of the first group were more likely to use defensive-adaptive techniques designed to repair the difference symbolically while members of the latter group were more likely to use techniques designed to eradicate the physical difference.
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a clinical social worker at Christ Child Society School Counseling Program.
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Timberlake, E.M. Self-concept protection by children with physical differences. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 2, 232–246 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00758391
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00758391