title: Confirmatory factor analysis of a short form of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations.
abstract: The 48-item Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) was designed to assess three dimensions (task-oriented, emotional, and avoidant) of self-reported responses to stressful circumstances, but results from factor analyses suggest four factors. The present research used confirmatory factor analysis to verify the four-factor structure for the 21-item CISS short form in samples of 1,628 undergraduate students and 390 community-dwelling adults. Factors corresponding to task-oriented and emotional scales were orthogonal and were well defined by their seven constituent items. The avoidant scale was split into two three-item parcels that describe specific avoidance behaviors (contact a friend and treat oneself) rather than broad response categories. In the undergraduate sample, depression and anxiety correlated negatively with the task-oriented scale and positively with the emotional scale. In the community sample, the emotional scale was positively correlated with neuroticism and negatively correlated with extroversion and agreeableness, whereas the task-oriented scale was negatively correlated with neuroticism and positively correlated with extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. It was concluded that the task-oriented and emotional scales have potential as measures of two types of responses to routine stressors.
authors.affiliation: San Diego State University, and VA San Diego Healthcare System, CA, USA. scohan@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Sharon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Cohan
authors.forename: Kerry L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Murray B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012944:Social Support; D013223:Statistics as Topic