A Prospective Examination of Child Avoidance Coping and Parental Coping Assistance after Pediatric Injury: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Alyssa C. Jones, Nancy Kassam-Adams, Jeffrey A. Ciesla, Lamia P. Barakat, Meghan L. Marsac

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objective: Millions of children experience injuries annually, and avoidance coping increases risk of negative emotional and physical outcomes after injury. Little is known about how children select avoidance coping strategies. Parents may help their children cope with an injury by encouraging or discouraging the use of specific strategies, such as avoidance coping. The present study examined parental influence of child use of avoidance coping post-injury. Methods: Children ages 8-13 (65% male; 50% White) hospitalized for pediatric injury and their parents (N = 96 child-parent dyads) participated in an interview and discussion task about coping at baseline, and then completed coping/coping assistance measures at three time points: T1 (within 2 weeks post-injury), T2 (6-weeks post-injury), and T3 (12-weeks post-injury). Results: When presented with an ambiguous situation in the observational interview and discussion task, the number of avoidance coping solutions offered by children independently as well as during a discussion with their parent predicted the child's ultimate avoidance versus non-avoidance coping choice. The number of avoidance coping solutions offered by parents did not predict children's final choice to use avoidance coping. Longitudinal data suggest that parent encouragement of avoidance coping predicted child avoidance coping within the first 6-weeks post-trauma. Conclusions: Our study suggests that child avoidance coping is multifaceted and may result from both parent encouragement as well as independent decisions by children. Future research may explore additional factors that influence child avoidance coping, outside of parental suggestion, in response to trauma exposure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)914-927
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Pediatric Psychology
Volume44
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved.

Funding

This work was supported by a Mentored Career Award grant 1K23MH093618-01A1 from the National Institute of Mental Health (PI: Marsac). The authors declare that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest.

FundersFunder number
National Institute of Mental HealthK23MH093618

    Keywords

    • accidents and injuries
    • coping skills and adjustment
    • parents
    • posttraumatic stress

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
    • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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