Voices of children, parents and teachers: How children cope with stress during school transition

This study explores how children's perceptions of stress factors and coping strategies are constructed over time. Children were interviewed before and after they made the transition from preschool to primary school. This study also explores teachers' and parental strategies in helping children to cope with stress at school. The sample included 53 six-year-old children, their parents and teachers. The findings show that children generally could make accurate predictions of unhappy things that might happen during the transition to primary school. Children reported being incompetent in fulfilling teachers' expectations regarding learning, self-help skills and conforming to rules. Children also reported peer conflicts and being nervous about authority. Children learned direct problem-solving skills, seeking social support and emotional regulation at preschool, but had only used the first two coping strategies at school. A majority of parents thought that transition problems affected children's emotions, whereas most teachers thought that transition problems affected children's learning. Copyright © 2014 Taylor & Francis.