A comparison of coping strategies used by parents of children with disabilities and parents of children without disabilities.

Paster et al. (2009) gave a coping survey to two groups of parents. One group had kids with disabilities. The other group had kids without disabilities. They wanted to see which coping styles each group used most.

The survey asked about seeking help, avoiding problems, and finding silver linings. Parents answered how often they used each style.

Parents of kids with disabilities reached out for social support more often. They also used escape-avoidance and positive reappraisal more than the other parents. The differences were large enough to matter in real life.

In plain words, these parents asked for help, dodged stress, and looked for the bright side more often.

Rodriguez-Seijas et al. (2020) looked at many studies and saw the same pattern. Parents of ADHD kids also lean on avoidant coping and support-seeking. The 2020 review even cites the 2009 paper inside it, so the findings line up.

Slattery et al. (2017) went deeper. They showed that positive reappraisal and social support link optimism to benefit-finding. Angela et al. told us these strategies are used more; Éadaoin et al. showed why they help.

De Laet et al. (2025) tracked parents of young adults. Positive coping predicted lower depression. The 2009 snapshot and the 2025 long view tell the same story: good coping protects mental health.

Cramm et al. (2009) ran a direct replication the same year. Same design, same population. They found coping style mattered more for fathers, personality more for mothers. Together, the two 2009 papers give a fuller picture.

When you coach parents, build in chances to seek support and reframe stress. Run a quick coping survey at intake. If avoidant scores are high, teach problem-solving instead. If support scores are low, link them to parent groups. Small moves, big payoff.