The United States portion of a crossnational study of coping styles suggests that children may have coping strategies that support their value systems. Participants were two random samples of equal numbers of ten- and fourteen-year-olds, boys and girls, upper-middle class and upper-lower class in communities near Chicago, Illinois, and Austin, Texas. Sentence completion, occupational values, and occupational aspiration instruments were used to collect data. Results show that children with high aspirations seem to value leading others more than valuing job security. Children with high occupational aspiration tend to value getting ahead of others more than finding self-satisfaction in a job, and they do not try to get along with others, such as peers or authority figures. On the other hand, children with high educational aspirations seem to get along well with authority figures and cope effectively with task achievement situations. Thus, evidence now exists that occupational values are correlated with coping strategies that seem to actively support the values. (MEK)