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Coping and attention: implications for child health and pediatric conditions
1Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405, USA.
Insights
Understanding child health requires examining biological, psychological, and social factors. This study explores coping and attention in children
Area of Science:
- Child psychology
- Pediatric health
- Biopsychosocial models
Background:
- Child health and illness involve complex interactions between biological, psychological, and social factors.
- Coping and attention are key biopsychosocial processes influencing stress responses in children.
- Pediatric recurrent abdominal pain serves as a model for studying these processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a dual-process model for understanding children's responses to stress.
- To review research on coping and attentional processes in children.
- To highlight the relationship between coping and attention in child health and illness.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual review of biopsychosocial models in child health.
- Distinction between involuntary/automatic and voluntary/controlled stress responses.
- Integration of research findings on coping and attention.
Main Results:
- A dual-process model differentiates automatic and controlled stress responses.
- Coping and attention are interrelated processes affecting child well-being.
- These concepts offer insights into pediatric conditions like recurrent abdominal pain.
Conclusions:
- Biopsychosocial factors, particularly coping and attention, are crucial for understanding child health and illness.
- The dual-process model provides a framework for future research.
- Understanding these mechanisms can inform interventions for children's health issues.
Abstract:
Child health and illness are best conceptualized in terms of the interaction of biological, psychological, and social processes. Among the central factors in biopsychosocial models of health and illness are processes of coping and attention in response to stress. As a guide to research on biopsychosocial processes in child health and illness, a dual-process model of responses to stress is described, distinguishing between stress responses that are involuntary/automatic and those responses that are voluntary/controlled. Research on coping with stress is briefly reviewed, along with research on attentional processes in response to stress. The relationships between coping and attention are highlighted, along with the implications of this research for understanding children's health and illness. Throughout the article, examples are drawn from research on pediatric recurrent abdominal pain to illustrate important aspects of coping and attention.