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Children's coping strategies and coping efficacy: Relations to parent socialization, child adjustment, and familial alcoholism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

CYNTHIA L. SMITH ,
NANCY EISENBERG ,
TRACY L. SPINRAD ,
LAURIE CHASSIN ,
AMANDA SHEFFIELD MORRIS ,
ANNE KUPFER ,
JEFFREY LIEW ,
AMANDA CUMBERLAND ,
CARLOS VALIENTE  and
OI-MAN KWOK
CYNTHIA L. SMITH
Affiliation:
Arizona State University Cynthia L. Smith is now at the Department of Human Development, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
NANCY EISENBERG
Affiliation:
Arizona State University Cynthia L. Smith is now at the Department of Human Development, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
TRACY L. SPINRAD
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
LAURIE CHASSIN
Affiliation:
Arizona State University Cynthia L. Smith is now at the Department of Human Development, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
AMANDA SHEFFIELD MORRIS
Affiliation:
Arizona State University Amanda Sheffield Morris is now at the Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans
ANNE KUPFER
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
JEFFREY LIEW
Affiliation:
Arizona State University Jeffrey Liew and Oi-man Kwok are now at the Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University
AMANDA CUMBERLAND
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
CARLOS VALIENTE
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
OI-MAN KWOK
Affiliation:
Arizona State University Jeffrey Liew and Oi-man Kwok are now at the Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University
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Abstract

The relations of children's coping strategies and coping efficacy to parent socialization and child adjustment were examined in a sample of school-age children that included families in which some of the grandparents and/or parents had an alcoholism diagnosis. Parents and older children reported on the children's coping strategies; parents reported on their parenting behavior; and teachers reported on children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Measures of parent socialization were associated with parents' and children's reports of active coping strategies and parents' reports of both support-seeking coping and coping efficacy. Some of these relations were moderated by familial alcohol status. Children higher in parent-reported active/support-seeking coping and coping efficacy were rated lower in teacher-reported externalizing and internalizing adjustment problems. The findings were consistent with the view that active/support-seeking coping and coping efficacy mediated the association of parent socialization to children's psychological adjustment and that this relation was sometimes moderated by parental alcohol status.This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (DA05227; Laurie Chassin, Principle Investigator, Nancy Eisenberg, Co-Principal Investigator).

Type
REGULAR ARTICLE
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 445 - 469
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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