School-age children's perceptions of coping with distress: strategies for emotion regulation and the moderation of adjustment.

An inventory was developed to assess children's perceptions of what they did to feel better in stressful situations, and to examine the role of these perceptions in moderating the relationship between stress and outcome. A total of 345 6-12 year old children from diverse backgrounds were interviewed. Children's perceptions of what they do to relieve distress could be organized into six factors including the use of social support, distraction/avoidance, and other categories of coping which show continuity with those identified for infants and toddlers. Several types of coping served as compensatory moderators of the relationship between stress and self-worth.