CHILDRENS COPING WITH RECURRENT HEADACHE

We investigated the relationships among perceptions of control over pa in, gender and coping responses in 57 school-aged children receiving s ervices at a specialized pediatric headache clinic. Perceptions of con trol and gender interacted to predict frequency of active and negative coping responses. A wide range of coping strategies was reported, but only minimal gender or perceived control differences were found in th e frequency and helpfulness of individual coping strategies. Results a re discussed within the context of recent stress and coping models wit hin the pediatric chronic illness literature.