How was the data categorized?
How did I choose a categorization technique?
There are hundreds of ways to categorize regulatory abilities. In fact, within the field of psychology, there are over 400 catalogued coping responses (25)! With so many options, it can be difficult to determine a strategy for categorizing coping and emotional regulation strategies.
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There are two reasons I chose Ayers and colleagues’ four factor model to categorize coping responses (2).
1. In their 1996 paper, these researchers tested several models of coping. These models included two popular categorization techniques: problem-focused vs. emotion-focused coping and active vs. passive coping. The researchers found that the four factor model provided the best fit for their data.
2. Additionally, they made sure the model best represented children’s coping, not adult’s coping. This is crucial because children’s coping strategies cannot always be categorized in the same way as adults’ coping strategies.
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Regulatory abilities
refer to both coping and emotional regulation responses
I chose Uhl and colleagues’ three factor model of emotional regulation because it was age-appropriate and simple. The researchers created this categorization specifically for children in middle childhood (roughly 4-8 years old). This was a great fit, as this was the target audience for the books I analyzed. I also wanted my model to be relatively simple. The regulation abilities of children in middle childhood are fairly basic. Thus, it would not make sense to choose a complex model to represent a child’s basic regulation abilities (27).
Why aren’t strategies labelled as maladaptive / adaptive?
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. With a few exceptions (namely the dysregulation category under Emotional Regulation), the context of the given social situation will determine whether or not an attempt will be adaptive or maladaptive (32). A regulation strategy may be very helpful in one situation, but could actually be harmful if used in a different context (see Active Strategies for an example).
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Before diving into the different types of coping and emotional regulation, click here for some background information on these topics.
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Click on a term below to navigate to its definition and subcategories.
Categorization of Coping Strategies
Active Strategies
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When looking at active coping, it is especially important to consider the controllability of the stressor. If active coping is used in an inappropriate context, it can actually cause more harm than good (8, 33). For example, one study found an association between youth who try to actively change an uncontrollable situation and poorer social competence and more behavioral problems (8). So, while active coping is often an excellent strategy for kids, the context and controllability of the stressor must be included when evaluating its usage.
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Cognitive Decision Making
Definition: Planning or thinking about ways to solve a problem, without actually executing these actions. This strategy is not just thinking about the stressor, but rather how to overcome it (2).
This is a slightly more advanced strategy, as it deals with planning ahead and/or thinking about future events and consequences. Thus, this strategy will be seen more in older kids. This strategy can be effective in response to both controllable and uncontrollable stressors.
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Example: Before Evelyn moves to a different city, she and her best friend Daniela brainstorm ways to stay in touch, including calling each other and visiting during the summer. (Evelyn Del Rey is Moving Away)
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Direct Problem Solving
Definition: Taking steps to change the problem. This can be done by modifying the self or the environment. This is a behavioral strategy and thus refers to what a person does, not what a person thinks (2).
This skill increases with age as children start to develop more cognitive abilities (37). This strategy is most effective when used in response to controllable stressors. In fact, it has been negatively correlated with emotional and behavioral problems and positively associated with better adjustment in middle childhood (2, 9, 15). On the other hand, direct problem solving can cause more distress and frustration if a child tries to alter an uncontrollable situation.
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Example: When Henry can’t find his dog, he sets out to search for him in his neighborhood. (Henry and Mudge, The First Book)
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Seeking Understanding
Definition: Attempts to better comprehend and/or find meaning in a stressful situation. This is not the same as looking at a situation in a more positive / optimistic light (2).
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Seeking understanding can be helpful in both controllable and uncontrollable situations (2). Finding meaning when coping with a controllable stressor can help one to determine the best way to overcome it. Additionally, if a child has a better understanding of an uncontrollable stressor, it may be easier for them to accept that the stressor is unchangeable / out of their control.
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Example: When Jack must sneak past a dinosaur, he looks up information about the dinosaur in a book to learn about its behaviors. (Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark)
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Positive Cognitive Restructuring
Definition: Thinking about the stressor in a more positive way. This can include minimizing the problem or its consequences in addition to acceptance, one of the most common types of positive cognitive restructuring (2).
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This is another coping strategy that can be helpful in both controllable and uncontrollable situations.
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Example: Jabari originally feels scared to jump off the high dive, but successfully jumps off when he thinks of the end result as a surprise instead of something to be afraid of. (Jabari Jumps)
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Expressing Feelings
Definition: An overt display of how one is feeling. This can be accomplished through an action or verbalizing one’s feelings. A key note is this is a solitary activity and occurs with no one else present (2).
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Putting one’s feelings into words can be adaptive in both controllable and uncontrollable situations. There is an abundance of research that suggests expressing one’s emotions can be beneficial for one’s psychological well-being (30). This can be an especially useful strategy for children, as it can help their feelings and stressors seem less abstract and more manageable.
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Example: When Junie B. Jones is having a negative experience on the bus, she says to herself, “I want to get off of here.” (Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus)
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Active coping strategies involve direct engagement with a stressor and/or its consequences.
As kids reach their school years, they will likely begin to use active coping strategies more often than they do in their preschool years (15).
If used correctly, active coping is generally associated with healthy adjustment, fewer symptoms of mental health problems, and increased social competence in kids and adolescents (5, 25, 34).
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Stressor:
a condition or aspect of the environment that poses a threat to one's health (9)
Distraction Strategies
This family of coping strategies involves either thinking about something else or participating in a different activity to distract oneself from engaging with the stressor.
With age, children tend to differentiate distraction strategies more (37). They learn how to choose a more specific type of distraction depending on the situation and context of the stressor. While organization increases, the actual usage of distraction strategies tends to decrease with age, especially during middle childhood (37).
Distraction can be a helpful strategy to cope with uncontrollable stressors depending on the duration of its usage. For short-term stressors, it can provide temporary relief. However, distraction is generally not a great strategy to use for long-term stressors. The individual will eventually have to come to terms with the stressor, and distraction prevents them from doing so (28).
(Note: This coping family is slightly modified from the original paper by Ayers and colleagues (1996).)
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Distracting Actions
Definition: Using stimuli, entertainment, or some other activity to distract oneself from engaging with the stressor(2).
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Because it requires few advanced cognitive skills, behavioral distraction is one of the most commonly used strategies in childhood (25).
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Example: Before Evelyn moves out, she and her friend Daniela play together “Just like today is any other day.” (Evelyn Del Rey is Moving Away)
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Distracting Thoughts
Definition: Thinking about something else to distract oneself from thinking about the problem.
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Using this cognitive form of distraction is relatively uncommon in younger kids, as they do not yet have the cognitive abilities to do this successfully. The use of this strategy typically increases with age (25).
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Example: Jabari thinks about what kind of special jump he’s going to do off the high dive instead of thinking about his fear. (Jabari Jumps)
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Avoidant Strategies
Avoidance is very similar to distraction in that they both involve distancing oneself from the stressor. Avoidance can involve suppressing thoughts and feelings, ignoring the stressor or its consequences, or to stop thinking about the problem entirely (2).
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This is a very popular strategy with preschool aged children. They make decisions based on their emotions, rather than logic (34). Thus, if their emotional systems do not like a situation or are uncomfortable engaging with a stressor, they will simply avoid it. This makes sense, as young kids are still developing many of the cognitive, psychological, and social skills necessary to cope in more active ways. As kids grow out of the preschool age, there is often a decrease in the usage of avoidance strategies (15).
Frequent usage of avoidant strategies beyond early childhood can be problematic. One study found a correlation between avoidance and social inadequacy (5). More specifically, young boys who used avoidant coping when being bullied were more likely to be further victimized by peers (5). Another study found that kids with anxiety were more likely to use avoidant coping strategies (22). So, while avoidance may offer temporary solutions for a child, if used to cope with long term stressors, problems may arise.
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Avoidant Actions
Definition: Behavioral attempts to leave or stay away from the stressful situation (2).
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This is a very common coping strategy in preschool aged children.
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Example: Instead of doing his chores, Toad decides he will do them tomorrow and “take life easy” today. (Days with Frog and Toad, Tomorrow)
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Cognitive Avoidance
Definition: Refraining from thinking about the stressor by cognitive means, which can include wishful thinking or imagining the situation was better (2).
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This strategy may be difficult for younger children to use and likely will develop with age.
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Example: When Camilla’s peers are laughing at her, she avoids thinking about their laughter and tries to act as if everything were normal. (A Bad Case of Stripes)
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Support Seeking Strategies
Support seeking includes any action that involves another person in the process of dealing with a stressor or its consequences. If used in moderation, this is a great strategy to use for both controllable and uncontrollable stressors. Though there are differences between the two types of support seeking strategies, they are often used to supplement each other (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984, as cited in 2). For example, sharing their emotions with a friend can help a child have a more optimistic outlook on a situation, which can then encourage them to work with their friend to directly solve the problem (2).
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The nature of support seeking varies with age. When dealing with controllable stressors, younger children tend to seek support from adults, while older children often turn to their peers. However, when looking at uncontrollable stressors, both younger and older children tend to go to adults for support (37). Toddlers often rely on social support to cope with problems and feelings they do not yet fully understand (37).
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Support seeking only becomes harmful if it is used too often. This can prevent a child from learning how to cope with problems by themselves, an especially important skill to have when entering school.
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Problem-Focused Support
Definition: Using other people to help find ways to overcome the stressor. This can include seeking information and/or advice (2).
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Problem-focused support can be adaptive, especially when coping with a controllable stressor. It may be especially useful for younger kids who may not yet have the resources and background knowledge to overcome a stressor. As kids develop, they turn more and more to their peers for this type of support (37).
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Example: Nikolai is looking for answers to three questions, and asks his friends for help in answering them. (The Three Questions)
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Emotion-Focused Support
Definition: Talking to someone else without any intentions to solve the problem. The support giver may listen to the person’s feelings and/or provide them with comfort (2​).
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Emotion-focused support can be especially helpful in response to uncontrollable stressors. As children grow older, they will likely continue to seek emotion-focused support from trusted adults (34). This is a slightly different pattern than what is observed for problem-focused support.
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Example: Junie B. Jones talks to her mother about why she is scared to ride the bus to school (Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus).
Categorization of Emotional Regulation Strategies
Engagement Strategies
Engagement strategies involve acknowledging one’s emotions and actively doing something to regulate them. “Doing something” can include both overt behavioral actions and covert cognitive thoughts and feelings. Children tend to use more engagement strategies with age. Their responses will also become more differentiated with age (9).
Engagement regulation strategies are very effective for kids and have been negatively correlated with symptoms of internalizing problems (disorders characterized by processes within the self) (9). Some engagement strategies have also been found to be protective against different forms of psychopathology (behavioral or cognitive manifestations of mental disorders) (34).
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Self-Directed Problem Solving
Definition: Attempts to modify the situation in a constructive way. This is done without help or support from another person (27).
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Problem solving is generally a very adaptive regulation strategy. It can give a child a sense of control in how they regulate their feelings. Problem solving has also been negatively associated with multiple psychopathological symptoms, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and substance-related disorders. (30)
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Example: When Lilly hurts her teacher’s feelings, she writes him an apology letter. (Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse)
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Assisted Problem Solving
Definition: Turning to a peer or adult for help and/or information (27).
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This regulation strategy has a lot of overlap with the coping strategy “problem-focused support seeking.” It can be adaptive for a child to ask an adult for help or information, as an adult can often teach them how to navigate through their emotions and feelings. However, if the child becomes dependent on the support-giver, this strategy can become maladaptive.
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Example: When Junie B. Jones needs help deciding what to be for career day, she asks her mom and dad for advice and suggestions. (Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth)
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Cognitive Coping
Definition: Reframing the problem in a different way. This can also include self-talk (27).
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This strategy is often used by older kids who are further along in their cognitive development and is generally very adaptive. One study found a correlation between cognitive reappraisal and decreased depressive symptoms (14).
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Example: Henry originally thinks his dog Mudge has run away, but then realizes that Mudge wouldn’t leave him and he must be lost. (Henry and Mudge, The First Book)
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Emotion-Focused Coping
Definition: Efforts to change one’s emotions, rather than the environment or situation itself (27).
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Emotion-focused typically increases as kids transition into grade school (15). This can be an especially adaptive strategy when a child is dealing with an uncontrollable situation.
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Example: When Jack starts to worry that he will not be able to escape the dinosaurs, he takes deep breaths and tells himself not to panic. (Magic Tree House, Dinosaurs Before Dark)
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Emotional Support Seeking
Definition: Sharing one’s feelings with or seeking comfort from another person (27).
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This regulation strategy is very closely related to the coping strategy “emotion-focused support.” This type of regulation can also be very adaptive when a child is facing an uncontrollable situation. However, as with the coping strategy, emotional support seeking can become maladaptive if it is used too frequently (22).
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Example: When Henry gets stung by a bee, he sits down next to his dog Mudge, who helps him feel better by licking away his tears. (Henry and Mudge, Green Time, The Picnic)
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Acceptance
Definition: Acknowledging that the situation cannot be directly altered. This can also include “sticking it out.” (27).
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Acceptance is a very interesting regulation strategy. On the surface, it may seem that when one uses acceptance, they are “giving up” on overcoming the emotion or situation. But in fact, acceptance can be a sign of emotional maturity. When one accepts that something is out of their control, they can move on from the situation. This strategy has been negatively associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression (24, 30).
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Example: After numerous attempts to change his grumpy mood, Jim Panzee realizes that sometimes he feels grumpy and there is not much he can do about it. (Grumpy Monkey)
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Talking to Someone
Definition: Simply having a conversation with someone, without the intent of receiving support or assistance from them (27).
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Research suggests that simple expressing one’s emotions, whether this be verbally, through a journal, etc., can be beneficial for one’s psychological well-being (30).
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Example: Toad explains to Frog that nobody ever sends him mail and that waiting for the mail can make him feel sad. (Frog and Toad are Friends, The Letter)
Disengagement Strategies
Disengagement strategies involve distancing oneself from an emotion. This can be done through cognitive or behavioral means. Similarly to distraction and avoidance coping, disengagement regulation strategies are used more frequently in younger children. As they grow older, they will likely begin to explore more engagement forms of regulation.
Disengagement can be helpful when initially regulating an emotion. A child may need to remove themselves from a situation or emotion (mentally or physically) to calm down and avoid feeling overwhelmed. However, frequent use of disengagement can become maladaptive and has been positively correlated with symptoms of more serious psychological problems (9, 34).
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Cognitive Escape
Definition: Not thinking about the situation (27).
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Cognitive escape shares many similarities with the coping strategy of cognitive avoidance. This strategy is used more frequently by older children who are further along in their cognitive development.
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Example: When Max feels upset, he avoids thinking about his problems by escaping to another world. (Where the Wild Things Are)
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Behavioral Escape
Definition: Leaving the situation (27).
This strategy is frequently used by younger children.
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Example: When a classmate yells at Junie B. Jones on the bus, she turns away from him and looks out the window for the rest of the ride. (Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth)
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Ignoring
Definition: Not giving any attention to the situation or those involved (27)
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It is more common to see ignoring in younger children. Frequent use of avoidance has been correlated with psychopathy (behavioral or cognitive manifestations of mental disorders) (9).
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Example: Jim Panzee repeatedly tells his friends that he is not grumpy. In doing so, he is denying his feelings. (Grumpy Monkey)
Dysregulation Strategies
Dysregulation occurs when an attempt at regulation is poorly matched to the environment (14). It is harmful regardless of context. Some forms can decrease with age as children explore more effective ways of regulating their feelings; however, others can increase with age. Dysregulation has been associated with increased symptoms of anxiety and depression and can make children more vulnerable to developing various types of psychological problems (27).
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Emotional Venting
Definition: Directing one’s emotions at an inappropriate target. This can include verbal aggression or having a “meltdown.” (27)
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This strategy is maladaptive regardless of context. If this behavior continues into a child’s school years, it may put them at risk for more serious behavioral and psychological problems.
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Example: After many failed attempts to find his lost button, Toad yells in frustration at Frog, even though Frog had done nothing wrong. (Frog and Toad are Friends, A Lost Button)
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Aggressive Actions
Definition: Attempts to physically retaliate in a hostile manner (27).
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Aggressive actions is another strategy that can lead to more serious problems if not addressed early. Interestingly, one study found that aggressive behavior was more common in adolescence than middle childhood (25).
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Example: Junie B. Jones threatens to punch her classmate in the face. (Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth)
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Self-Injurious Behavior
Definition: Any action that harms the self. This can include cutting, pulling one’s hair, or hitting one’s self (27).
Though none of the children’s books portrayed this behavior, it is clearly very maladaptive regardless of context and should be addressed as early as possible.
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Example: Children hitting themselves. (There were no examples of this behavior in the selected books)
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Rumination
Definition: Dwelling on the problem and/or excessively worrying about it (27). This is different from simply thinking about the problem and how to overcome it.
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Some research has found rumination to be more common in adolescents as compared to preadolescents (25). This strategy has been correlated with depression (9, 14).
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Example: When Miss Nelson’s students cannot find their teacher, they begin to imagine all of the horrible things that could have happened to her. (Miss Nelson is Missing!)