CHILDRENS METHODS OF COPING WITH STRESS - A TWIN STUDY OF GENETIC ANDENVIRONMENTAL-INFLUENCES

The relative importance of environmental and hereditary factors in how children cope with stress was examined. Emotion-focused, problem-focu sed, and additional coping variables were assessed in 44 monozygotic ( MZ) and 30 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, aged 9-16 years. The effects of heritability, shared environment, and unshared environment were examin ed in structural modelling analyses. Genetic factors accounted for a m ajority of the reliable variance in four of seven coping variables, wh ile effects of twins' shared environment were negligible for all but o ne coping variable. Environmental factors important to individual diff erences in coping strategies were primarily unique to each child (unsh ared between the twins), highlighting the importance of individual exp eriences in shaping coping behaviors.