ABSTRACT

As pediatric health care has moved more and more to examining adaptive functioning in

children with chronic and acute medical conditions, coping has become a common focus

of empirical research. Coping is presumed to be an important mediator of the stress

experienced by pediatric patients. For example, active coping strategies, such as problem

solving, have been found to be related to better functioning when compared to less active

strategies, such as distraction (Endler & Parker, 1990). Nonetheless, the assessment of

coping in children and adolescents is in its infancy, at least in part because of varying

theoretical conceptualizations of coping.