Subcultural differences in the types of stressors, coping strategies, and control beliefs reported by thirty-two 10- to 14-year-old Egyptian girls from middle-class, countryside, and inner-city backgrounds were investigated. Girls were interviewed about the types of stressors they encountered in different life domains, their coping responses in dealing with these stressors, and their general control beliefs. A translated version of Connell's Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control (MMCPC) was administered to the middle-class and inner-city girls. All groups differed significantly in (a) the types of stressors reported in various life domains and (b) reported life control. Middle-class and inner-city girls showed different patterns of control beliefs on the MMCPC. The implications of these findings for the study of stress and coping from the cross-cultural perspective are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Averill, J. (1973). Personal control over aversive stimuli and its relationship to stress. Psychological Bulletin, 80, 286-303.
2.
Band, E. B. , & Weisz, J. R. (1988). How to feel better when it feels bad: Children's perspectives on coping with everyday stress. Developmental Psychology, 24, 247-253.
3.
Barakat, H. (1977). Socioeconomic, cultural and personality forces determining development in Arab societies. In S. E.Ibrahim & N. S. Nichelas (Eds.), Arab society in transition (pp. 665-687). Cairo: American University in Cairo.
4.
Berry, J. W. (1969). On cross-cultural comparability. International Journal of Psychology, 4, 119-128.
5.
Church, A. T. , & Katigbak, M. S. (1988). The emic strategy in the identification and assessment of personality dimensions in a non-Western culture. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 19, 140-163.
6.
Cohen, L. H. , Burt, C. E., & Bjork, J. P. (1987). Life stress and adjustment: Effects of life event experiences by young adolescents and their parents. Developmental Psychology, 23, 583-592.
7.
Compas, B. E. (1987). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 393-403.
8.
Compas, B. E. , Malcarne, V. L., & Fondacaro, K. M. (1988). Coping with stressful events in older children and adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 1-7.
9.
Connell, J. P. (1985). A new multidimensional measure of children's perceptions of control. Child Development, 56, 1018-1041.
10.
Cummings, E. M. , & Cummings, J. S. (1988). A process-oriented approach to children's coping with adults' angry behavior. Developmental Review, 8, 296-321.
11.
Eckensberger, L. H. (1973). Methodological issues of cross-cultural research in developmental psychology. In J. R. Nesselroade & H. W. Reese (Eds.), Life-span developmental psychology: Methodological issues (pp. 43-64). New York: Academic Press.
12.
Eickelman, D. F. (1981). The Middle East: An anthropological approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
13.
Emery, R. E. (1982). Interparental conflict and the children of discord and divorce. Psychological Bulletin, 92, 310-330.
14.
Findley, M. J. , & Cooper, H. M. (1983). Locus of control and academic achievement: A literature review. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 419-427.
15.
Folkman, S. (1984). Personal control and stress and coping processes: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 839-852.
16.
Folkman, S. , & Lazarus, R. S. (1986). If it changes it must be a process: Study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 150-170.
17.
Ford, M. E. , & Thompson, R. A. (1985). Perception of infant agency and infant attachment: Toward a life-span perspective on competence development. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 8, 337-406.
18.
Forsythe, C. J. , & Compas, B. E. (1987). Interactions of cognitive appraisals of stressful events and coping: Testing the goodness of fit hypothesis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 11, 473-485.
19.
Garmezy, N. (1983). Stressors of childhood. In N. Garmezy & M. Rutter (Eds.), Stress, coping, and development in children. New York: McGraw-Hill.
20.
Harris, M. J. , & Rosenthal, R. (1986). Four factors in the mediation of teacher expectancy effects. In R. S. Feldman (Ed.), The social psychology of education: Current research and theory (pp. 91-114). New York: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Keith, J. (1980). Participant observation. In C. L. Fry & J. Keith (Eds.), New methods for old age research (pp. 8-26). Chicago: Center for Urban Policy, Loyola University of Chicago.
22.
Klaczynski, P. A. , & Cummings, E. M. (1989). Responding to anger in aggressive and nonaggressive boys. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30, 309-314.
23.
Kohn, M. (1969). Class and conformity. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
24.
Lazarus, R. S. , & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
25.
McGinnis, E. , Nordholm, L. A., Ward, C. D., & Bhanthumnavin, D. L. (1974). Sex and cultural differences in perceived locus of control among students in five countries. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 451-455.
26.
Parrot, C. A. , & Strongman, K. T. (1984). Locus of control and delinquency. Adolescence, 19, 459-471.
27.
Parsons, O. A. , & Schneider, J. M. (1974). Locus of control in university students from Eastern and Western societies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 456-461.
28.
Peterson, C. , & Seligman, M.E.P. (1986). Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: Theory and evidence. Psychological Review, 91, 347-374.
29.
Rutter, M. (1979). Maternal deprivation, 1972-1978: New findings, new approaches, new concepts. Child Development, 50, 283-305.
30.
Rutter, M. (1981). Stress, coping and development: Some issues amid some questions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 22, 323-356.
31.
Selman, R. (1971). Taking another's perspective: Role-taking development in early childhood. Child Development, 42, 1721-1734.
32.
Skinner, E. A. , Chapman, M., & Baltes, P. B. (1988). Control, means-ends, and agency beliefs: A new conceptualization and its measurement during childhood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 117-133.
33.
Stone, A. A. , & Neale, J. M. (1984). New measure of daily coping: Development and preliminary results. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 892-906.
34.
Thoits, P. A. (1988, March). Patterns in coping with controllable and uncontrollable events. Paper presented at the Biennial Conference on Life-Span Development, Morgantown, West Virginia.
35.
Waines, N. O. (1984). Development of economic concepts among Egyptian children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 15, 47-64.
36.
White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66, 297-333.
