The Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES)

The Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES)The Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES)The Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES)

Welcome to the Official Site of the CCNES

Since its development almost 30 years ago, the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES; Fabes, Eisenberg, & Bernzweig, 1990) has been used widely in family and developmental science research. The original scale has been extended and modified in several ways to make it more applicable to different types of research. Versions now exist that focus on adolescents and toddlers as well as children. In addition, child/adolescent perceptions of parental responses have been a major innovation of the original CCNES. The CCNES has also be translated into many languages. This site houses information on the CCNES and is designed to help researchers and practitioners access and use the CCNES.


The CCNES presents hypothetical scenarios in which a child or adolescent gets upset or angry. Parents or their children are asked to indicate the degree to which the parent responds to each scenario in 6 theoretically meaning ways of coping with children's negative emotions. These 6 ways of coping include both supportive and nonsupportive coping responses, as well as how much the distress the negative emotions elicit in the parent. The 6 responses include:


1. Problem-Focused  -- helping the child solve the problem that caused the distress.

2. Emotion-Focused -- helping the child feel better.

3. Expressive Encouragement -- actively encouraging children's expression of negative emotions.

4. Minimization -- discounting or devaluing the child's negative emotions/problem

5. Punitive -- using verbal or physical punishment to control the expression of negative emotion

6. Distress -- becoming adversely aroused/distressed by child's negative emotion.


Use this webpage to access the various version of the CCNES and other information about the CCNES.


CITATION: Fabes, R. A., Eisenberg, N., & Bernzweig, J. (1990). Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES): Description and scoring. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University.

Click Here to learn more about the CCNES and its Psychometric Properties (Fabes et al., 2002)

Access Versions of the CCNES

CCNES for Parent Reports

CCNES for Child/Adolescent Perceptions

CCNES for Child/Adolescent Perceptions

The initial version of the CCNES focuses on parents' self-report of their reactions to their children's negative emotions. Adolescent and toddler (CTNES) versions also have been created. Translated versions of these scales will be added as they are made available.

CCNES for Child/Adolescent Perceptions

CCNES for Child/Adolescent Perceptions

CCNES for Child/Adolescent Perceptions

The CCNES can be used to assess children's or adolescents' perceptions of their parents' responses to their negative emotions. The scale can be used for perceptions of mothers', fathers', or general parents' responses.

CCNES for Teacher Responses

CCNES for Child/Adolescent Perceptions

CCNES for Teacher Responses

Teachers' responses to their students negative emotions also can be assessed using these versions. Similar to parent responses, teachers' self-reports on the various dimensions are elicited in these hypothetical scenarios.

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