The relationship between coping, stress and mental health in a pre-school population

Building on the previous chapter, Chapter 6 explores the relationship between coping, stress and common mental health issues facing the pre-school population through the use of Children’s Coping Scale – Revised (CCS-R) in association with indicators of children’s anxiety and social emotional competence. It highlights the importance of using a developmental approach to understand general versus situation-specific coping responses in pre-schoolers, including a discussion on the early patterns of maladaptive coping among anxious pre-schoolers. Implications for early mental health prevention and intervention are considered.