A DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY OF SECONDARY CONTROL COPING IN THE CONTEXT OF SINGAPORE

Abstract

This study consists of two phases. Phase I identified common everyday stressors experienced by school-age children in the context of Singapore. In Phase II, Chinese Singaporean and non-Asian children aged 6, 9, and 12 years were then asked to recall stressful episodes involving the four different situations identified in Phase I. A preference for secondary control forms of coping among the Chinese children was evident, both within culture (i.e., over primary control forms) and in comparison to the non-Asian children. No significant age differences were found among the Chinese. For the non-Asian children, a significant developmental trend was noted, with self-reports of primary coping declining, and that of secondary coping increasing, with age. Within both groups of children, styles of coping differed across situations. Among the Chinese children, the situation involving conflict with authority figures was found to elicit more secondary control responses than did the other three situations. The conflict with authority figures situation was also the situation most likely to evoke secondary coping responses among the non-Asian children; however, within that situation, there were more self-reports of primary control coping than secondary control coping. The developmental and cross-cultural differences that emerged highlight the importance of interpreting the development of control beliefs within a cultural framework, and also support a situation-specific view of cultural influences.