Coping With Stress During Childhood And Adolescence
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.Copvrighl 1987 hy the American Psychological AssociaiiOH, Inc.0033-29G9/S7/ 00.?5Psychological Bulletint987,Vol IOL No. 3. 393-403Coping With Stress During Childhood and AdolescenceBruce E. CompasUniversity of VermontIn this article, research on how children and adolescents cope with stress and coping's role in reducing the adverse psychological states associated with stress is reviewed. Child and adolescent copingis reflected in seven different lines of research—infants' responses to maternal separation, socialsupport, interpersonal cognitive problem-solving, coping in achievement contexts, Type A behaviorpattern in children, repression-sensitization, and resilience to stress. A variety of different copingresources, styles, and specific strategies are important in successfully adapting to stress, includingefforts that focus directly on the problem, as well as attempts to deal with adverse emotions associated with stress. Directions for future research are identified, emphasizing the need for more systematic comparisons of coping across different types of stress and over time in response to a singlestressful episode.be drawn on for this purpose (cf. Rutter, 1981). At the mostA central feature of human development involves coping withpsychosocial stress. Beginning in infancy, individuals are confronted with a stream of potentially threatening and challenginggeneral level, coping has been considered to include all re-situations that require action and adaptation. The modest tomoderate correlations typically found between stressful lifesponses to stressful events or episodes. This feature is characteristic of both animal (e.g., N. E, Miller, 1980) and human (e.g.Silver & Wortman, 1980) models of coping. For example. Silverevents and disorder during childhood and adolescence suggestand Wortman (1980) denned coping as "any and all responsesthat individual difference factors related to coping may moderate the stress-disorder relation (see Compas, in press, for a re-made by an individual who encounters a potentially harmfuloutcome" (p. 281). At this level, coping includes instinctive orreflexive reactions to threat as well as an array of learned re-view). The resources available to cope with stress and the manner in which individuals actually cope may be important factorssponses to aversive stimuli. However, theorists from a variety ofinfluencing patterns of positive growth and development asopposed to the onset of a host of psychological and somaticproblems.perspectives have argued that this definition is too broad. Coping has been further differentiated on the basis of (a) effortfulversus noneffortful responses, (b) coping's function, and (c) aAlthough the study of coping with stress during adulthoodfocus on resources, styles, or specific responses.has been characterized by increasing convergence in conceptualization and measurement (e.g., Lazarus & Folkman, 1984;Menaghan, 1983; Moos & Billings, 1982), this is not true forCoping as Effortfulcoping during childhood and adolescence. Instead, coping inResponses to Stressyounger age groups has been represented by different defini-Several authors have argued for the importance of distinguishing coping as including effortful or purposeful reactionstions and methods of measurement, as well as several divergentlines of research. The purpose of this review is to integrate theseto stress but excluding reflexive or automatic responses (e.g.,Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Murphy, 1974). By focusing only onsomewhat disparate areas of research and to identify future directions for study. First, various definitions and conceptualiza-adaptations! responses involving effort, coping is distinguishedfrom instinctual mechanisms that are beyond the individual'svolitional control. With regard to coping responses of children,tions of coping are discussed. Second, empirical studies of coping during childhood and adolescence are reviewed. Finally,Murphy and associates (Murphy, 1974; Murphy & Moriarity,conclusions drawn from this research, the major issues facing1976) have placed coping at the middle of a continuum rangingthe field, and directions for future research are outlined.from reflexes that are present from birth to automatized mastery responses that have been learned to the extent that theyConceptualization of Copingno longer require conscious control. Purposeful responses maybecome automatic after being repeated many times. LazarusAs no systematic effort has been made to conceptualize cop-and Folkman (1984) pointed out that focusing on effortful responses avoids the pitfall of defining coping so broadly that iting during childhood and adolescence, the adult literature mustincludes everything that individuals do in relating to the environment.This work was supported in part by W. T. Grant Foundation Grant85-1016-85.The author is grateful to Lynne Bond and Harold Leitenberg for theircomments on an earlier version of this article.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to BruceE. Compas, Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405.This perspective on coping is best reflected by Lazarus andFolkman's (1984) definition: "We define coping as constantlychanging cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing orexceeding the resources of the person" (p. 141). They pointedout that managing stress includes accepting, tolerating, avoid393
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.394BRUCE E. COMPASing, or minimizing the stressor as well as the more traditionalview of coping as mastery over the environment. Coping is notlimited to successful efforts but includes all purposeful attemptsto manage stress regardless of their effectiveness.Functions of'CopingCoping efforts have been delineated into those intended to acton the stressor (problem-focused coping) and those intended toregulate emotional states associated with or resulting from thestressor (emotion-focused coping; Folkman & Lazarus, 1980).Efforts to act on the stressor include strategies for problem solving or altering the stressful relation between the individual andthe environment. Alternatively, adjustment or adaptation canbe facilitated by emotional regulation achieved through avoiding the stressor, cognitively reframing the stressor, or selectivelyattending to positive aspects of the self or situation. Problemand emotion-focused coping can be carried out through eithercognitive or behavioral channels.Resources, Styles, and Specific CopingEffortsIt is also useful to distinguish among the resources availableto the individual in coping with stress, the styles of coping thatcharacterize an individual's responses, and the specific copingefforts displayed in a particular stressful episode (e.g., Menaghan, 1983). Coping resources include those aspects of the self(e.g., problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills, positive selfesteem) and the social environment (e.g., the availability of asupportive social network) that facilitate or make possible successful adaptation to life stress. Coping styles are methods ofcoping that characterize individuals' reactions to stress eitheracross different situations or over time within a given situation.These may partly reflect the ways of coping preferred by individuals because they are consistent with personal values, beliefs,and goals. Coping styles do not necessarily imply the presenceof underlying personality traits that predispose the person torespond in a particular way (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Instead, coping styles may reflect the tendency to respond in aparticular way when confronted with a specific set of circumstances (e.g., an individual may display different coping stylesin controllable vs. uncontrollable situations). Finally, specificcoping efforts or strategies refer to the cognitive or behavioralactions taken in the course of a particular stressful episode.These may vary across time and context depending on the nature of the stressful encounter.efforts will be constrained by his or her psychological and biological preparedness to respond to stress. For example, temperament is frequently cited as playing a central role in influencingthe child's coping responses (e.g., Kagan, 1983; Lerner, Baker,& Lerner, 1985; Rutter, 1981). The child's temperament maydefine a range of responsivity to stress and influence the stylethat characterizes the child's coping. Children differ in theirsensitivity to the environment, with some showing signs ofarousal and distress to a much wider array of stimuli than others. More responsive children may need to cope with a greaternumber of situations than less responsive youngsters. Further,individual differences are apparent in the ways children reactonce they are aroused or threatened, for example, in the degreeof inhibition of behavior and expressions of fear they displayin response to a stressful stimulus (e.g., Garcia Coll, Kagan, &Reznick, 1984). Third, basic features of cognitive and socialdevelopment are likely to affect what children experience asstressful and how they cope (e.g., Maccoby, 1983). Importantaspects of development include self-perceptions (Harter, 1983)and self-efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1981), self-control or inhibitory mechanisms (Harter, 1983), attributions of cause (Ruble& Rholes, 1981), friendships (Hartup, 1983), and parental relationships (Maccoby & Martin, 1983), among others. Althoughit is beyond the scope of this discussion to review each of theseareas, it is important to recognize the ways in which the studyof coping during childhood and adolescence can contribute toas well as benefit from research on these fundamental aspectsof human development.Not surprisingly, it appears that coping during childhood isaffected by both personal and environmental factors. The degree to which coping is effective may depend on the goodness offit between the child and the environment (e.g., Lerner et al.,1985; Lerner & Lerner, 1983). For example, if a child's temperamental style does not effectively elicit caretaking responsesfrom the parents, then a poor fit exists and the child's copingefforts will not facilitate successful adaptation to stressful encounters with the environment. Thus, research investigatingcoping during childhood must account for the environmentalcontext in which the stressful episode occurs (including boththe nature of the stressor and the availability of resources forcoping), the individual's developmental level, the personal resources the individual brings to the situation, the prior historyof and preferred ways of coping, and the actual coping responses.Empirical InvestigationsChild and Adolescent CopingApplying these general notions of coping to the actions ofchildren and adolescents requires some alterations and additions. First, the nature of the infant or young child's dependenceon adults for survival emphasizes the need to include the child'ssocial context in understanding his or her coping resources,styles, and efforts (Leiderman, 1983). Thus, adaptive copingcannot be characterized by a description of the individual'sskills or resources alone but instead lies in the relation betweenthe child and the environment. Whereas this relational definition of coping may apply throughout life, it should be especiallyimportant early in development. Second, the child's copingAspects of coping as just conceptualized have been centralthemes in seven areas of research, all concerned with adaptationto stress during childhood and adolescence—(a) attachmentand separation during infancy (e.g., Ainsworth, 1979), (b) social support (e.g., Barrera, 1981), (c) interpersonal cognitiveproblem solving (e.g., Spivack & Shure, 1982, 1985), (d) copingin achievement contexts (e.g., Dweck & Wortman, 1982), (e)Type A and B behavior patterns (e.g., Matthews, 1981), (f) coping styles of repression and sensitization (e.g., Krohne & Rogner, 1982) or monitoring and blunting (e.g., S. M. Miller &Green, 1984), and (g) resilience or invulnerability to stress (e.g.,Garmezy, 1983). The common theme among these lines of re-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.CHILD AND ADOLESCENT COPING395search is that they all concern the responses of children andadaptive coping strategies to deal with stress" (Kagan, 1984, p.adolescents to stressful stimuli.61). These adaptive strategies are probably influenced by parenting patterns that value self-reliance and the capacity to con-Attachment and Separationtrol fear. Thus, infant responses are likely to reflect the effectsThe attachment of the infant to the mother or caretaker andevidence of distress in reaction to separation from the motherof both temperamental patterns and learned effortful behavior.The second dilemma of coping research illustrated by studiesof separation distress involves the overlapping nature of stressare fundamental aspects of human social development. Moreand coping. The constellation of behaviors that indicates thatspecifically, the infant's reactions to separation from the mothermay be the infant's first experiences in coping with stress. Al-separation is stressful (inhibition of exploratory behavior, fretting, and crying) is simultaneously defined as the infant's effortthough there is considerable variability in infants" responses toto cope with the separation by promoting the mother's return.maternal separation, indications of behavioral inhibition, fear,and distress are common (e.g., Garcia Coll et al., 1984). ThisFurther, the absence of distress may indicate that the separationdistress is typical ly relieved by renewed contact with the mother.The interdependent and reciprocal nature of the relation be-Thus, behaviors displayed by the infant in response to separation that promote the mother's return can be seen as the earliesttween stress and coping is evident in other literature on copingduring childhood and adolescence.is not stressful, and it may also represent more adaptive coping.forms of coping an individual displays.The "strange situation" paradigm developed by Ainsworthand colleagues (e.g., Ainsworth, 1979) is the context used mostoften for the study of infants' reactions to maternal separation.Infants are observed for brief periods in an unfamiliar labora-Social SupportThe continued importance of social bonds and relationshipsthroughout childhood and adolescence is evident in studies oftory setting in the presence of their mother, with a stranger, withthe mother and the stranger, and alone. Whereas the primarypurpose of this research is to classify the quality* of the attach-social support. This concept has been approached by numerousment between the infant and mother, and the representativenessof infant behavior in this context has been called into questioncial support developed in work with adult populations to theuse of the construct with children and adolescents (e.g., Cauce,(e.g., Kagan, 1984; Lamb, Thompson, Gardner, Charnov, & Estes, 1984), the behavior observed with the strange situation canFelner, & Primavera, 1982; Kaplan, Robbins, & Martin, 1983).Barrera (1981) developed the most comprehensive definition ofresearchers and has involved several different conceptualizations. Most of these investigators have applied definitions of so-be seen as an interesting example of infant coping (cf. Hocksocial support during childhood and adolescence. He argued& Clinger, 1981). The pattern labeled as representing a securethat the concept must include explication of the providers ofsupport, the individual's subjective appraisal of support, andthe activities involved in the provision of support. Whereas so-attachment (i.e., mildly protesting after the mother leaves, seeking proximity to the mother when she returns, and being easilyplacated by her) might reflect a pattern of coping with an eventthat is experienced by the infant as mildly stressful. Alternatively, less effective coping may be reflected in the behavior ofinsecurely attached children, who become seriously distressedcial support is typically viewed as a form of coping or a factorthat facilitates coping, Barrera's (1981) conceptualization goesthe furthest in this regard by outlining examples of socially supportive behaviors. These are likely to include attempts to assistwhen the mother leaves and are not easily soothed by theirthe individual in mastering emotional distress, sharing respon-mothers' attempts to calm them. Finally, a third group of avoid-sibilities, providing advice, teaching skills, and providing material aid.ant children, who do not protest the mother's departure anddo not seek her out when she returns, may reflect a group notexperiencing the event as stressful and, thus, not being mobilized to cope.In studies of social support as a resource for coping amongchildren and adolescents, researchers have examined both thedirect relation between social support and adjustment and theThe study of responses to maternal separation highlights twointeraction of life events and social support in relation to well-intriguing problems that confront coping researchers, particularly in studying young children. First, if it is accepted that cop-being. Evidence for a direct relation between social support anding involves effortful but not reflexive responses, it is unclearwhether infants' reactions to maternal separation actually rep-levels of psychological or physical symptomatology or both hasbeen strong; Barrera (1981), Cauce et al. (1982), Compas,Slavin, Wagner, and Vannatta (1986), Compas, Wagner, Slavin,resent coping, as opposed to predisposed patterns of respond-and Vannatta (1986), Felner, Ginter, and Primavera (1982),ing. Although there is substantial variability among infants intheir patterns of response, there is considerable stability in indi-Sandier (1980), and Sandier and Barrera (1984) reported sig-viduals* reactions across time. Thus, infants' reactions to sepa-social support is related to symptom levels, this relation variesration may reflect stable temperamental factors to a great extent(Kagan, 1983). However, temperament may affect the likeli-as a function of a number of subject characteristics (e.g., gender,hood or degree to which separation is experienced as stressfulsocial support under investigation (e.g., number of supportivenificant relations. Although it is clear that the quality of one'sage, and socioeconomic status) and the aspect or dimension ofbut not necessarily infants' attempts to cope with the event. Ka-relationships, satisfaction with social support, and others' so-gan (1984) and Hock and Clinger (1981) have argued that someinfants who fail to display distress when the mother departs maybe better able to cope with uncertainty rather than being poorlycially supportive behaviors). Differences in subjects, measures,and research designs make it difficult to draw conclusions inattached to mother. Their behavior may imply that "babies whoStudies of interactive effects of social support have been moremixed in their findings. Compas, Slavin, et al. (1986) and Gaddo not become upset in the Strange Situation have acquiredthis literature at present.
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.396BRUCE E. COMPASand Johnson (1980) failed to find any interaction b
Coping as Effortful Responses to Stress Several authors have argued for the importance of distin-guishing coping as including effortful or purposeful reactions to stress but excluding reflexive or automatic responses (e.g., Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Murphy, 1974). By focusing only on adaptations! responses i
Coping with negativities which cause stress is define as stress management. In other statement; stress management is defined as changing the situation that causes stress or the responses to that situation for the sense of coping with stress and increasing the life quality. Stress management is expressed as coping
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A way of coping is a broader category of coping that explains specific coping instances. For instance, reading a book on stress management falls under the way of coping named “reading.” Playing the video game “Tetris” is a way of coping that is referred to as “distraction.” In Fig. 1 and Fig.
focused and problem-focused coping into a functional coping scale and added dysfunctional coping to the existing model, in order to distinguish between helpful and unhelpful coping techniques. Dysfunc-tional coping can take different forms (Car
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Coping is commonly investigated in studies of stress, with research indicating coping may explain the relation between stress and psycho-social outcomes among university students (Sa-watzky et al., 2012). In a qualitative study of stress and coping with fi
Aug 28, 2011 · Emotions and Stress Emotions and Stress 1. In the space provided answer the following questions: . Page 12 of 21. Chapter 3, Section 3 Notes Page 13 of 21. Page 14 of 21. Chapter 3, Section 3 Review Page 15 of 21. Coping With Stress Coping with stress 1. List 5 positive/ healthy ways you cope with stress . Chapter 3 Managing Stress Workbook .
stress Provide tips for preventing and coping with stress Suggest support resources to help people cope with stress. 4 S tress challenges aperson ’s and family ’s coping ability. High and chronic stress can also turn into a crisis. Signs of
