Little information exists on the coping patterns of parents of chronically ill children although there are 1,000,000 severely chronically ill children in the United States. To address the need for psychosocial services, Arizona is developing a program to serve its citizens. A study was conducted to examine the reliability of a major family coping instrument and the relationship between income levels and coping strategies of families experiencing pediatric illness and to compare the coping strategies of fathers and mothers and of single and dual parents. Participants included 65 parents from a peer support group for parents of chronically ill or disabled children. The Coping-Health Inventory for Parents (CHIP), a self-reporting questionnaire on family integration, strengthening self, and understanding the medical situation coping patterns was administered. A supplemental questionnaire focused on demographic information. The results revealed that mothers used the strengthening self and understanding the medical situation coping patterns more than did fathers. No significant differences were found between single and dual parents. There was no correlation between income level and coping patterns. This study found evidence of internal reliability and generalizability for the CHIP instrument. (ABL)