Children’s Appraisals, Emotion-Focused Coping with Familial Conflicts and Health: An Investigation of Cognitive Theory of Stress in School Aged Children

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Abstract

This study examined the role of children’s appraisals of interparental conflict and emotion-focused coping on their physical and psychosocial health.
We used a stratified random sampling procedure in recruiting 413 fifth grade school children in the city of Tehran (220 girls & 193 boys). Mothers responded to the Child Health Questionnaire-Parent Form (CHQ-PF28) and children responded to the Children’s Perception of Interparental Conflict (CPIC) scale and the Security in the Family System (SIFS) scale. This was a correlation study that used regression analyses.
Results indicate that children’s appraisal of interparental conflict is predictor of their emotion-focused coping, and both are predictors of children’s physical and psychosocial health. In addition, emotion-focused coping (preoccupation and disengagement) mediated the relationship between children’s appraisals and health.
These results develop and expand Cognitive Theory of Stress of Lazarus in childhood which is used for stress processing in adulthood.

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Journal of Psychological Studies
Volume 5, Issue 4
January 2010
Pages 67-84

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