Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach.
We developed a multidimensional coping inventory to assess the different ways in which people respond to stress. Five scales (of four items each) measure conceptually distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping, seeking of instrumental social support); five scales measure aspects of what might be viewed as emotional-focused coping (seeking of emotional social support, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, turning to religion); and three scales measure coping responses that arguably are less useful (focus on and venting of emotions, behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement). Study 1 reports the development of scale items. Study 2 reports correlations between the various coping scales and several theoretically relevant personality measures in an effort to provide preliminary information about the inventory's convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 uses the inventory to assess coping responses among a group of undergraduates who were attempting to cope with a specific stressful episode. This study also allowed an initial examination of associations between dispositional and situational coping tendencies.
Carver
C S
CS
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33124.
Scheier
M F
MF
Weintraub
J K
JK
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*