Conceptualization and Measurement of Coping in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Examines some of the conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and developmental issues related to the assessment of coping in children and adolescents. The authors begin by briefly reviewing alternative definitions and conceptual issues prerequisite to a discussion of the measures of coping, such as what represents the proper domain of coping and the dimensionality of coping. The discussion proceeds to the methods and current assessment instruments that have been used with children and adolescents, and the observed relations between these measures of coping and adjustment. Finally, the authors discuss the more general issues that are important for future research in the assessment of coping, such as theoretical vs empirical approaches to measurement development and the importance of adopting a developmental perspective in the assessment of coping during childhood and adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).