Coping Questionnaire for Children

Abstract

The Coping Questionnaire for children (CQC), developed by Uma A. Shenoy in 1996, is a specialized psychological scale designed to measure the coping mechanisms employed by children and adolescents who have recently relocated to a new, foreign country. Specifically targeting the challenges faced by expatriate children, the instrument assesses behavioral and emotional responses to various cross-cultural stressors, such as differences in climate, language, schooling, food, and social interactions. The CQC was created as part of a Master’s Thesis focusing on adaptation in a new environment, providing insight into both adaptive and maladaptive strategies used by young migrants.

Keywords

Coping mechanisms, cross-cultural adaptation, children, adolescents, immigration, adjustment, psychological assessment, self-report instrument.

Authors

Uma A. Shenoy.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Coping Questionnaire for children is to systematically identify and categorize the specific strategies—both behavioral and emotional—that children utilize when confronted with significant cultural and environmental differences after moving to a foreign country. The questionnaire aims to move beyond general measures of distress by pinpointing areas of difficulty (e.g., climate, language barriers, social norms) and documenting the child’s active response to these challenges.

By capturing granular data on coping responses, the instrument serves as a valuable tool for researchers and practitioners interested in understanding the process of cross-cultural adaptation. The instructions explicitly ask the child to report what they “did or are doing to deal with, or, cope with these differences,” emphasizing a focus on observable or felt actions rather than purely abstract personality traits.

Construct

The central construct measured by the CQC is Coping in Cross-Cultural Contexts, defined here as the cognitive and behavioral efforts used to manage internal and external demands of situations appraised as taxing or exceeding the individual’s resources, specifically following international relocation. The scale operationalizes this construct across eight distinct domains representing common sources of cultural shock or adjustment difficulty for children.

The responses provided within each section reflect a spectrum of coping orientations, including problem-focused coping (e.g., practicing language, learning new games), emotion-focused coping (e.g., crying, complaining, feeling scared), and avoidance strategies (e.g., staying at home, avoiding learning the language). The questionnaire’s structure implicitly categorizes these responses, allowing for the scoring of relative reliance on adaptive versus maladaptive mechanisms across different areas of life.

Validity

Specific, summarized validity coefficients (e.g., construct validity, criterion validity) are not explicitly detailed in the provided excerpt of the instrument. However, the scale exhibits strong face validity and content validity due to its direct derivation from observed areas of difficulty for children navigating cultural differences, as established through relevant psychological literature and the context of the larger research study (Shenoy, 1996). The items are clearly and directly related to the construct of coping with relocation stress.

To establish empirical validity, the full Master’s Thesis, “In Moving to a New Country: Children and Adolescent’s Adaptation,” would contain the statistical analyses, likely including correlations between CQC scores and other measures of adjustment, mental health outcomes, or academic performance, thereby supporting its concurrent or predictive validity within the original study population.

Reliability

Detailed statistical measures of reliability, such as Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for internal consistency or test-retest reliability scores, are not present in the instrument description itself. In the context of its development as part of a 1996 Master’s Thesis, it is expected that the author conducted appropriate analyses to ensure the measure’s consistency.

The structure of the questionnaire, utilizing multiple response options for specific, discrete situations, suggests that reliability was likely assessed either across the entire instrument or, more appropriately, within specific subscales corresponding to the eight coping domains (A through H).

Factor Analysis

Information regarding the specific factor structure of the Coping Questionnaire for children is not provided in the source excerpt. A typical factor analysis conducted during the scale development process would aim to determine if the 56 potential coping responses (8 domains x 7 options) cluster into distinct factors, such as ‘Active Adaptation,’ ‘Emotional Distress,’ or ‘Social Avoidance.’

Given the structure which separates coping behaviors by environmental domain (e.g., clothing versus language), it is plausible that the underlying factor model might reflect both the domain specificity of the stressor and the general coping style applied across domains.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire / Psychological scale.

Format: Eight multi-choice sections (A-H), each presenting seven possible coping responses plus an open-ended option (“Any other way I dealt with it”) and a “Not applicable” box.

Language Available: English (as presented in the source material, likely administered in English in the original study).

Population Group: Children and adolescents experiencing cross-cultural transition.

Age Group: Typically used for school-aged children and adolescents (implied by the content domains such as school, friends, and games).

Population Details: Specifically designed for children living in a foreign country (the original study focused on children adapting to life in the United States, referred to as ‘Americans’ in the item descriptions).

Test Methodology: Respondents are asked to tick the response that best describes what they did to cope with the specified difference. The scale utilizes a forced-choice method within distinct scenarios.

Keywords

Relocation stress, cultural differences, migration, child psychology, self-report, adaptive coping, maladaptive coping, Virginia Tech, Shenoy.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not explicitly provided in the source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not explicitly provided in the source material.

Correspondence Address: Not explicitly provided in the source material (Affiliation: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University at the time of publication).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The instrument was developed in 1996 by Uma A. Shenoy as part of her Master’s Thesis at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Since it is published within an academic thesis, it is generally considered available for academic use, though formal permission from the author or institution may be necessary for commercial or large-scale research applications.

Fee information is not available in the public documentation. The scale is available for review within the full thesis document, “In Moving to a New Country: Children and Adolescent’s Adaptation.” The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-44915251972550/unrestricted/etd.pdf

Reference’s

Shenoy, Uma A. (1996). In Moving to a New Country: Children and Adolescent’s Adaptation. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Master’s Thesis.

Items of the Coping Questionnaire for children

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Given below are some of the areas in which children living in a foreign country are generally known to find different. We would like to know what you did or are doing to deal with‚ or‚ cope with these differences. Please tick the appropriate response‚ that is‚ what you did‚ for each situation.

If you did something other than what is listed‚ please tell us what you did by writing it down under the section “Any other way I dealt with it”. If you did not experience the difference‚ then tick the “Not appropriate” box and move on to the next question.

[A] Living under different climatic and weather conditions:

1. Stayed at home
2. Complained a lot and did not know what to do
3. Went out more to get used to it
4. Did nothing
5. Cried
6. Learnt to wear different clothes in different seasons
7. Any other way of dealing

( ) Not applicable

[B]Wearing different kinds of clothes:

1. Did not wear clothes like other Americans/continued wearing clothes from my country
2. Started wearing clothes like other Americans
3. Cried
4. Saw what clothes other children wore‚ and learnt to wear the same kind of clothes
5. Complained and did not what to do
6. Was scared of wearing clothes like other children
7. Any other way of dealing

( ) Not applicable

[C] Learning to speak a different language:

1. Cried
2. Went to an ESL class
3. Practiced speaking with friends/parents/guardians
4. Avoided learning it
5. Felt bad about being speaking differently
6. Read books and heard others speak English so I could learn better
7. Any other way of dealing

( ) Not applicable

[D] Different kind of school than in home country:

1. Made friends who helped me to get to know the school
2. Spoke with teachers to learn about the school
3. Complained and did not know what to do
4. Cried
5. Learnt about different things in the school by talking to classmates
6. Felt scared and wanted to go back to my home country
7. Any other way of dealing

( ) Not applicable

[E] Eating different kind of food:

1. Did not eat American food at all/ continued eating only food from home country
2. Decided to try American food and see whether I like it
3. Continued eating food from home country but also sometimes ate American food
4. Cried
5. Complained a lot and did not know what to do
6. Disliked American food and wished to go back to my country
7. Any other way of dealing

( ) Not applicable

[F] Praying in a different way / following a different religion:

1. Cried
2. Avoided meeting children because they prayed to a different God
3. Felt bad about praying differently compared to American children
4. Changed to a different religion
5. Asked my friends to take me with them to their place of worship
6. Spoke to friends and got to know about their way of praying
7. Any other way of dealing

( ) Not applicable

[G] Playing different kinds of games and sports:

1. Asked my friends or parents to teach me to play new games
2. Watched others play the game I wanted to learn
3. Avoided playing with other children
4. Cried
5. Complained a lot and did not know what to do
6. Read books and magazines to help me learn the games
7. Any other way of dealing

( ) Not applicable

[H] Forming new friendships:

1. Went and made friends with other children
2. Asked children if I could be their friend
3. Felt shy or scared to make friends
4. Learnt to do what other children did‚ so I could be their friend
5. Cried about not ha‎ving friends
6. Avoided meeting other children
7. Any other way of dealing

( ) Not applicable