Children are continuously confronted with everyday stressors in their daily routine, and their ability to deal with these stressors has been found to be significantly related to their psychological adjustment. In fact, numerous studies have indicated that having a repertoire of coping skills at a young age can be a “buffer” or moderator” of the effects of negative life stress on the development of psychological maladjustment. Because of the importance of developing adequate skills to navigate life’s daily challenges, a number of school-based interventions have been designed with the goal of teaching children specific “problem-focused” skills that are presumed to enhance coping, yet fewer programs have taught children “emotion focused” skills such as cognitive restructuring or emotional regulation to deal with more uncontrollable stressors. This paper begins with a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on children’s coping with everyday stress and then provides a description of several existing coping skills training programs for children, highlighting those that are school-based interventions. A description is provided of a brief, school based intervention that was recently implemented to determine the differential effects of teaching young children “problem-focused” skills and teaching “emotion-focused” skills on children’s subsequent use of specific coping strategies. The study and its outcomes are reviewed. The final section of the paper focuses on issues related to conducting intervention research in the schools, and specific suggestions for researchers are delineated for every stage in the process of school based research, to best assure that the research program can be implemented in the schools efficiently and effectively.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altshuler, J. L., Genevro, J. L., Ruble, D. N., & Bornstein, M. H. (1995). Children’s knowledge and use of coping strategies during hospitalization for elective surgery. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 16, 53–76.
Altshuler, J. L., & Ruble, D. N. (1989). Developmental changes in children’s coping with uncontrollable stress. Child Development, 60, 1337–1349.
Astington, J. W., & Jenkins, J. M. (1995). Theory of mind development and social understanding. Cognition and Emotion, 9, 151–165.
Band, E. B. (1990). Children’s coping with diabetes: Understanding the role of cognitive development. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 15, 27–41.
Band, E. B., & Weisz, J. R. (1988). How to feel better when it feels bad: Children’s perspectives on coping with everyday stress. Developmental Psychology, 24, 247–253.
Band, E. B., & Weisz, J. R. (1990). Developmental differences in primary and secondary control coping and adjustment to juvenile diabetes. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 19, 150–158.
Bernzweig, J., Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. A. (1993). Children’s coping in self-and other-relevant contexts. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 55, 208–226.
Brown, J. M., O’Keeffe, J., Sanders, S. H., & Baker, B. (1986). Developmental changes in children’s cognition to stressful and painful situations. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 11, 343–357.
Campbell, T. A. (1995). Coping and perceived control in older children and young adolescents during three stages of a stressful event.Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Binghamton University.
Caplan, M., Bennetto, L., & Weissberg, R. (1991). The role of interpersonal context in the assessment of social problem-solving skills. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 12, 103–114.
Compas, B. E. (1987a). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 101(3), 393–403.
Compas, B. E. (1987b). Stress and life events during childhood and adolescence. Clinical Psychology Review, 7, 275–302.
Compas, B. E., Malcarne, V. L., & Banez, G. A. (1992). Coping with psychosocial stress: A developmental perspective. In B. Carpenter (Ed.), Personal coping: Theory, research and application(pp. 47–63). New York: Praeger.
Compas, B. E., Malcarne, V. L., & Fondacaro, K. M. (1988). Coping with stressful events in older children and young adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(3), 405–411.
Compas, B. E., & Worsham, N. (1991, April). When mom or dad has cancer: Developmental differences in children’s coping with family stress. Paper presented at Society for Research on Child Development meeting, Seattle, WA.
Compas, B. E., Worsham, N. L., & Ey, S. (1992). Conceptual and developmental issues in children’s coping with stress. In A. M. LaGreca, L. J. Seigel, J. L. Wallander, & C. E. Walker (Eds.), Stress and coping in child health(pp. 72–84). New York: Guilford Press.
Corbo-Richert, B. H. (1994). Coping behaviors of young children during a chest tube procedure in the pediatric intensive care unit. Maternal-Child Nursing Journal, 22(4), 134–146.
Cowen, E. L., Work, W. C., Wyman, P. A., Parker, G. R., Wannon, M., & Gribble, P. A. (1992). Test comparisons among stress-affected, stress-resilient and non-classified 4th -6th grade urban children. Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 200–214.
Cowen, E. L., Wyman, P. A., Work, W. C., & Iker, M. R. (1995). A preventive Intervention for enhancing resilience among highly stressed urban children. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 15(3), 247–260.
Cowen, E. L., Wyman, P. A., Work, W. C., & Parker, G. R. (1990). The Rochester Child Resilience Project (RCRP): Overview and summary of first year findings. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 193–212.
Curry, S. L., & Russ, S. W. (1985). Identifying coping strategies in children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 14, 61–69.
D’Amico, P. J. (1994). Children’s coping with peer-related stressors: Social competence and its relationship to affective, cognitive, and situational factors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Binghamton University.
Dubow, E. F. (1993). I can do problem-solving program training manual. Bowling Green State University: Bowling Green, OH.
Dubow, E. F., Schmidt, D., McBride, J., Edwards, S., & Merk, F. L. (1993). Teaching children to cope with stressful experiences: Initial implementation and evaluation of a primary prevention program. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 22(4), 428–440.
Dubow, E. F., & Tisak, J. (1989). The relation between stressful life events and adjustment in elementary school children: The role of social support and social problem-solving skills. Child Development, 60, 1412–1423.
D’Zurilla, T. J., & Goldfried, M. R. (1971). Problem solving and behavior modification. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 78, 107–126.
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Guthrie, I. K. (1997). Coping with stress: The roles of regulation and development. In S. A. Wolchik & I. N. Sandler (Eds.), Handbook of children’s coping: Linking theory and intervention. New York: Plenum.
Ellis, A., & Bernard, M. E. (1983). Rational-emotive approaches to the problems of childhood. New York: Plenum.
Fischler, G. L., & Kendall, P. C. (1988). Social cognitive problem solving and childhood adjustment: Qualitative and topological analyses. Cognitive Research and Therapy, 12, 133–153.
Flavell, J. H. (1992). Cognitive development: Past, present and future. Developmental Psychology, 28(6), 998–1005.
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21, 219–239.
Garner, P. W. (1996). The relations of emotional role taking, affective/moral attributions, and emotional display rule knowledge to low-income school-age children’s social competence. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 17, 19–36.
Garner, P. W., Jones, D. C., & Miner, J. L. (1994). Social competence among low-income preschoolers: Emotion socialization practices and social cognitive correlates. Child Development, 65(2), 622–637.
Hillson, J. M. C., & Kuiper, N. A. (1994). A stress and coping model of child maltreatment. Clinical Psychology Review, 14(4), 261–185.
Holahan, C. J., & Moos, R. H. (1987). Personal and contextual determinants of coping strategies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(5), 946–955.
Hubert, N. C., Jay, S. M., Saltoun, M., & Hayes, M. (1988). Approach-avoidance and distress in children undergoing preparation for painful medical procedures. . Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 17, 194–202.
Jacobsen, P. B., Manne, S. L., Gorfinkle, K., Schorr, O., Rapkin, B., & Redd, W. H. (1990). Analysis of child and parent behavior during painful medical procedures. Health Psychology, 9, 559–576.
Jay, S. M., Ozolins, M., Elliott, C. H., & Caldwell, S. (1983). Assessment of children’s distress during painful medical procedures. Health Psychology, 2, 133–147.
Kanfer, F. H., Karoly, P., & Newman, A. (1975). Reduction of children’s fear of the dark by competence-related and situation threat-related verbal cues. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43(2), 251–258.
Kendall, P. C., & Braswell, L. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for impulsive children. London: Guilford Press.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984b). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
Lochman, J. E., & Lampron, L. B. (1986). Situational social problem-solving skills and self esteem of aggressive and nonaggressive boys. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 14, 605–617.
Lochman, J. E., Lampron, L. B., & Rabiner, D. L. (1989). Format differences and salience effects in the social problem-solving assessment of aggressive and nonaggressive boys. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 18(3), 230–236.
Mannix, D. (1993). Social skills Activities for special children. New York: The Center for Applied Research in Education.
Masten, A. S., Best, K. M., & Garmezy, N. (1990). Resilience and development: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 425–444.
Meichenbaum, D. H., & Goodman, J. (1971). Training impulsive children to talk to themselves: A means of developing self-control. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 77(2), 115–126.
Parker, G. R., Cowen, E. L., Work, W. C., & Wyman, P. A. (1990). Test correlates of stress affected and stress resilient outcomes among urban children. Journal of Primary Prevention, 11, 19–35.
Pincus, D. (1999). Effects of brief coping skills training for increasing young children’s use of emotion focused coping strategies in stressful situations. Dissertation Abstracts International, 60(5-B), 2360.
Quamma, J. P., & Greenberg, M. T. (1994). Children’s experience of life stress: The role of family social support and social problem-solving skills as protective factors. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 23(3), 295–305.
Richard, B. A., & Dodge, K. A. (1982). Social maladjustment and problem-solving in school-aged children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 50, 226–233.
Rudolph, K. D., Dennig, M. D., & Weisz, J. R. (1995). Determinants and consequences of children’s coping in medical setting: Conceptualization, review, and critique. Psychological Bulletin, 118(3), 328–357.
Rutter, M. (1994). Stress research: Accomplishments and the tasks ahead. In R. J. Haggerty, L. R. Sherrod, N. Garmezy, & M. Rutter (Eds.) Stress, risk, and resilience in children and adolescents: Processes, mechanisms, and interventions(pp. 354–385), Cambridge University Press, New York.
Sandler, I. N., Wolchik, S. A., MacKinnon, D., Ayers, T. S., & Roosa, M. W. (1997). Developing linkages between theory and intervention in stress and coping processes. In S. A. Wolchik & I. N. Sandler (Eds.), Handbook of children’s coping: Linking theory and intervention. New York: Plenum.
Sears, S. J., & Milburn, J. (1990). School-age stress. In L. E. Arnold (Ed.), Childhood stress(pp. 223–246). New York: Wiley.
Sheslow, Bondy, & Nelson. (1983). A comparison of graduated exposure, verbal coping skills, and their combination in the treatment of children’s fear of the dark. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 4(2/3), 33–45.
Shure, M. B. (1992). I can problem solve: An interpersonal cognitive problem-solving program: Intermediate elementary grades. Champaign, Illinois: Research Press.
Shure, M. B., & Spivack, G. (1979). Interpersonal cognitive problem solving and primary prevention: Programming for preschool and kindergarten children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 2, 89–94.
Shure, M. B., & Spivack, G. (1988). Interpersonal cognitive problem solving. In R. H. Price, E. L. Cowen, R. P. Lorion, & J. Ramos-McKay (Eds.), Fourteen Ounces of Prevention: A casebook for Practitioners. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Siegel, L. J. (1983). Hospitalization and medical care of children. In E. Walker & M. Roberts (Eds.), Handbook of clinical child psychology(pp. 1089–1108). New York: Wiley.
Spirito, A., Stark, L., Grace, N., & Stamoulis, D. (1991). Common problems and coping strategies reported in childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20(5), 531–544.
Spirito, A., Stark, L., & Williams, C. (1988). Development of a brief coping checklist for use with pediatric populations. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 13(4), 555–574.
Spivack, G., Platt, J. J., & Shure, M. B. (1976). The problem solving approach to adjustment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Spivack, G., & Shure, M. B. (1974). Social adjustment of young children. A cognitive approach to solving real life problems. London: Jossey Bass.
Spivack, G., & Shure, M. B. (1982). The cognition of social adjustment: Interpersonal cognitive problem-solving thinking. In B. B. Lahey & A. E. Kazdin (Eds.), Advances in clinical child psychology(Vol. 5., pp. 323–372). New York: Plenum.
Stark, L. J., Spirito, A., Williams, C. A., & Guevremont, D. C. (1989). Common problems and coping strategies I: Findings with normal adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 17(2), 203–212.
Stark, L. J., Spirito, A., & Stamoulis, D. (1988). Common problems and coping strategies reported by young children.Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Behavior Therapy, New York.
Urbain, E. S., & Kendall, P. C. (1980). Review of social-cognitive problem-solving interventions with children. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 109–143.
Vernon, A. (1983). Rational-emotive education. In A. Ellis & M. Bernard (Eds.), Rational-emotive approaches to the problems of childhood. New York: Plenum.
Vernon, A. (1989). Thinking, feeling, behaving: An emotional education curriculum for children: Grades 1–6. Champaign, Illinois: Research Press.
Vitaliano, P. P., DeWolfe, D. J., Maiuro, R. D., Russo, J., & Katon, W. (1990). Appraised changeability of a stressor as a modifier of the relationship between coping and depression: A test of the hypothesis of fit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 582–592.
Weissberg, R. P., Caplan, M., & Harwood, R. L. (1991). Promoting competent young people in competence-enhancing environments: A systems-based perspective on primary prevention. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59(6), 830–841.
Weissberg, R. P., & Elias, M. J. (1993). Enhancing young people’s social competence and health behavior: An important challenge for educators, scientists, policy makers and funders. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 2, 179–190.
Weisz, J. R., & Dennig, M. D. (1993, March). The search for an understanding of “good” stress and coping in childhood.Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, LA.
Weisz, J. R., McCabe, M., & Dennig, M. D. (1994). Primary and secondary control among children undergoing medical procedures: Adjustment as a function of coping style. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62(2), 324–332.
Wertlieb, D., Weigel, C., Springer, T., & Feldstein, M. (1987). Temperament as a moderator of children’s stressful experiences. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 234–245.
Worchel, F. F., Copeland, D. R., & Barker, D. G. (1987). Control-related coping strategies in pediatric oncology patients. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 12, 25–28.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pincus, D.B., Friedman, A.G. Improving Children’s Coping With Everyday Stress: Transporting Treatment Interventions to the School Setting. Clin Child and Fam Psychol Rev 7, 223–240 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-004-6087-8
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-004-6087-8