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.