Premium
Coping behavior: Implications for disabled infants and toddlers
Author(s) -
Williamson G. Gordon,
Zeitlin Shirley,
Szczepanski Margery
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0355(198921)10:1<1::aid-imhj2280100102>3.0.co;2-c
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , psychology , developmental psychology , coping behavior , competence (human resources) , clinical psychology , social psychology
This article discusses the coping process and examines issues concerning the influence of a handicapping condition on the development of coping competence in young children. A preliminary study is reported that investigated the differences between the coping behavior of 25 developmentally disabled and 25 nondisabled children who were 4 to 34 months of age. The Early Coping Inventory was used to assess three categories of behavior related to adaptive coping efforts (sensorimotor organization, reactive behavior, and self‐initiated behavior). Results indicated that the nondisabled children, as a group, demonstrated more effective coping‐related behavior than did their disabled peers. The disabled children were situationally effective, in that behavior used effectively in one type of situation was not generalized to other types of situations. Their coping behavior tended to be erratic, inflexible, or limited in the range of available management strategies. The greatest discrepancy between the two groups was in their self‐initiated behavior. The findings suggest the need for intervention services to address the enhancement of coping behavior of infants and toddlers with disabilities.