Citation

Holen S, Lervåg A, Waaktaar T, Ystgaard M. J. Sch. Psychol. 2012; 50(2): 167-193.

Affiliation

Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, Norway; Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Norway.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Society for the Study of School Psychology, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsp.2011.10.006

PMID

22386119

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to explore the structure of coping with everyday stressors in a young nonclinical population and examine the relationship between coping and mental health. A total of 1324 children from 91 second-grade classes in 35 schools participated. Mental health was assessed using the parent and teacher forms of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997), and coping was assessed by the Kidcope (Spirito et al., 1988) self-report checklist. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested a three-factor structure of coping. Latent-variable regression analysis indicated that coping categories including both active and emotional strategies were associated with fewer mental health problems, whereas withdrawal and oppositional coping strategies were associated with greater mental health problems. With some important exceptions, the results replicated previous studies of adults and adolescents. The need for new, more comprehensive coping assessments is highlighted.

Language: en