Objective  To explore the status quo and associated factors of coping among persons with the loss of only child in communities in Kunming city of Yunnan province and to provide evidences for improving health and quality of life of the people.

  Methods  We selected a total of 300 parents (aged over 49 years) having lost the only child from six urban districts of Kunming city with stratified multistage sampling and conducted a face-to-face questionnaire survey using Coping and Adaptation Processing Scale (CAPS-Short Form) between September and November 2016.

  Results  For all the participants, the mean overall score of CAPS-Short Form was 42.41 ± 6.738, with the highest mean score (3.05 ± 0.761) for the item of figuring out problems and taking a panoramic view of the situation and the lowest mean score (2.44 ± 0.731) for the item of being easily to give up frequently. The results of multivariate linear regression showed that the participants having higher average monthly income during past one year, with higher education level, and with more years since the loss of the only child were more likely to have a higher CAPS-Short Form score; while those at elder age and with the loss of only girl child were more likely to have a lower CAPS-Short Form score.

  Conclusion  The coping score is not high and influenced by average monthly income, educational level, years since the loss of the only child, age, and gender of the lost only child among community parents with the loss of only child.