textThis study uses a qualitative methodology to examine how adolescents with
learning disabilities cope with stressors and the role of their parents in this process.
Fifteen middle school students with learning disabilities and their parents were
interviewed separately, using a semi-structured interview format. Transcribed interviews
were analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) to create an
integrated conceptualization of the role of parents in the coping of learning disabled
adolescents.
Adolescents with learning disabilities experience academic and interpersonal
stressors. The level of stressors experienced by adolescents with learning disabilities
seems to vary widely and is related to adolescents’ personal characteristics and their
academic and social context. Adolescents in this study utilize a wide variety of coping
strategies, dependent on stressor properties (e.g., duration, severity, domain), personal
characteristics (e.g., emotionality, knowledge), and environmental characteristics (e.g.,
family climate, school setting). Based on the current data, a model was developed to
explain parents’ role in adolescent coping within this population.
The data suggest that parents serve as a coping resource for adolescents with
learning disabilities by creating a space in which adolescents are able to develop and use
independent coping strategies. Parents engage in monitoring strategies to assess their
child’s academic and behavioral functioning, development, and emotional state.
Information obtained through monitoring is passed through parents’ cognitive lens—
parents’ attributions, knowledge, goals, and beliefs. Parents’ varying beliefs about
themselves, their children, and the school system intersect to create predictable patterns
of parent support.
In creating a space, parents set boundaries and expectations that regulate
exposure, shielding adolescents from some experiences, while allowing them access to
others. Parents structure the home environment to makes various coping resources
available for adolescents and influence the school system to create an environment that is
safe, stable, supportive, and sufficiently challenging. Parents also respond to
adolescents’ stressors by offering situation-specific coping assistance. Finally, by
preparing and equipping adolescents, parents seek to provide adolescents with coping
resources such as knowledge and skills.Educational Psycholog
