Coping Strategies in the Family and School Ecosystem

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to study children’s coping strategies used when faced with different stressors in their daily life (problems with their school work, problems getting along with other children and problems at home with people in their family), in a vulnerable social environment. This objective was evaluated through the Child Coping Questionnaire. The research for this study was conducted through a descriptive, inferential, quantitative, ex post facto design. The sample consisted of 50 schoolchildren from one suburban primary school in Madrid, Spain. The ages of the children range from 8 to 11 years. At present, almost 25% families are in a vulnerable situation. This instrument measures 14 coping categories that analyse positive and self-effective attitudes to favour socio-communicative processes and decision-making in situations of conflict between students. The results indicate that what bothers children the most is, first of all, problems getting along with other children (35.8%), problems with their school work (30.2%) and problems at home with people in their family (24.5%). Regarding their lifestyle outside the school environment and relationship with their family, 38% of participants spend a lot of time outside their home, according to our findings. This result can explain the difficulties in completing their homework that these children have. This can also trigger a curricular gap compared to their reference group, which can sometimes lead to school failure.