This paper focusses on coping strategies employed by children and adolescents with diagnosed short stature, assesses the impact of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics on coping, examines the relation- ship between coping and health related quality of life (QoL) and investigates the role of coping strategies in mediating the relationship between height and QoL. Cop- ing with a disease (CODI) and quality of life in short stature youth (QoLISSY–QoL) questionnaires were com- pleted by 137 short-statured children and adolescents between 8 and 18 years, participating in the crosssectional European QoLISSY study. Clinical and socio-demographic data were collected to examine differences in coping via variance and regression analyses, associations between CODI and QoLISSY were inspected using correlation and mediation analyses. Most frequently employed coping strategies in the CODI were ‘‘Acceptance’’ and ‘‘Wishful Thinking’’, with ‘‘Emotional Reaction’’ used least. Signif- icant effects of age, diagnosis and treatment status on coping strategies were detected. CODI scales ‘‘Accep- tance’’ and ‘‘Distance’’ were associated with higher QoLISSY–QoL scores, ‘‘Emotional Reaction’’ and ‘‘Wishful Thinking’’ with lower scores. Coping strategies predicted 60 % of the QoLISSY–QoL variance. Relation- ships between height deviation and QoLISSY–QoL were mediated by the coping strategies of ‘‘Wishful Thinking’’ and ‘‘Distance’’. Findings suggest that coping efforts vary with socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, that protective coping strategies in terms of QoL can be iden- tified and that coping mediates the relationship between short stature and QoL. Future longitudinal research should focus on the adaptive function of coping in relation to QoL over time.