Children S Stress And Coping

In spite of the increase in stress-coping research, little is known about how stress is actually perceived by children in the family setting. This is due in part to the real difficulties involved in collecting data on children's subjective experiences. In addition, what we currently know about children's stress and coping has traditionally derived from adult reporters, rather than from the children themselves. Filling a gap in the literature, this volume explores theoretical and methodological issues related to the study of children and families in general, and to stress-coping phenomena from the child's perspective in particular. The book challenges traditional deference to adult assessment of stress and coping among children by drawing data from both parents and children, revealing significant contrasts between the two. Through open-ended, qualitative measures of children's diaries and drawings, the book offers a glimpse into the inner world of the child and gives scholarly expression to the fact that children can, and readily will, articulate needs and perceptions if given an appropriate vehicle. The book's well-documented chapters discuss traditional approaches to stress and coping, implications for current child and family study, specific needs related to the study of children within the family, and implications for theory and methods. Taxonomies of children's stressors, coping responses, and coping resources are drawn from the data and examined in detail. The book concludes with suggestions for future research and clinical practice. Providing fascinating insight into children's actual experience of stress and coping, this volume lays the groundwork for ongoing research, scholarship, and therapeutic practice. Academicians, practitioners, and graduate students in family studies, child development, psychology, and nursing will find this book invaluable in shedding light on the often overlooked culture of children.

Concern with stress and coping has a long history in biomedical, psychological and sociological research. The inadequacy of simplistic models linking stressful life events and adverse physical and psychological outcomes was pointed out in the early 1980s in a series of seminal papers and books. The issues and theoretical models discussed in this work shaped much of the subsequent research on this topic and are reflected in the papers in this volume. The shift has been away from identifying associations between risks and outcomes to a focus on factors and processes that contribute to diversity in response to risks. Based on the Family Research Consortium's fifth summer institute, this volume focuses on stress and adaptability in families and family members. The papers explore not only how a variety of stresses influence family functioning but also how family process moderates and mediates the contribution of individual and environmental risk and protective factors to personal adjustment. They reveal the complexity of current theoretical models, research strategies and analytic approaches to the study of risk, resiliency and vulnerability along with the central role risk, family process and adaptability play in both normal development and childhood psychopathology.

Stress, Coping, and Development in Children is a work of signal importance to psychologists and to every mental health professional involved with infants and children.

The number and intensity of childhood stresses have dramatically increased in the past decade, forcing children to grow up faster. This book reasserts the value of childhood, and provides the information needed to help children deal with life's problems.

In response to the growing concern for the psychological impact of disasters on children, this book integrates a diverse body of literature-including theory, case studies and other research, and assessment and intervention techniques-contributed by many of the fields most experienced professionals. Child and school psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, mental health administrators, and pediatricians will all appreciate the work's unique focus on the reaction of children to extreme stress.

Many children's behavioral problems have multiple causes, and most children with one problem behavior also have others. The co-occurence and interrelatedness of risk factors and problem behavior is certainly an important area of research. This volume recognizes the complexity of the developmental processes that influence coping and resilience and the roles sociocultural factors play. The contributors focus on four themes that have emerged in the study of risk and coping over the past decade: interrelatedness of risk and problems, individual variability in resilience and susceptibility to stress, processes and mechanisms linking multiple stressors to multiple outcomes, and interventions and prevention. Psychologists, pediatricians, and others involved in the research or care of children will take great interest in this text.

GIVE YOUR CHILDREN BACK THEIR CHILDHOOD. We like to think of childhood as a carefree, relaxed time of life, but the truth is, children today experience more stress than ever before: parents' fast-paced lifestyles, the frequent breakup of families, urban crime, schools in turmoil, and a host of other problems. However, according to Bettie B. Youngs, Ph.D., Ed.D, one of America's most admired experts on child psychology, children--by mastering skills of coping and self-awareness--can actually draw vitality from stress and channel it to promote health, fitness, and self-esteem. Stress and Your Child helps parents understand the pressures that their children face and explores the essential ways to reduce, manage, and prevent stress from birth to age twenty. Dr. Youngs leads parents through each stage of their child's emotional and social development and teaches them: -- How to recognize the physical and emotional signs of stress in children -- How to understand school-related stress, including social pressures, personal safety, and test-taking -- How parental stress affects children--and what parents can do to alleviate t -- How teaching kids self-esteem and emotional honesty can help them cope wth stress -- How diet, physical activity, and realistic schedules can help to minimize stress in children Stress and Your Child is an invaluable parenting guide. No family can afford to be without it!