A psychometric re-assessment of the COPE questionnaire

The present paper offers a re-analysis of the COPE questionnaire [Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. & Weintraub, J. J. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267–283], based on analyses of the responses of 587 National Health Service employees. The data were analysed both by items and by sub-scales, and used more appropriate factoring techniques. Results showed a clear three-factor structure involving rational, emotion-focused and avoidance coping, which was similar to other recent coping scales such as the Multidimensional Coping Inventory [MCI — Endler, N. S. & Parker, D. A. (1990). Multidimensional assessment of coping: a critical evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 844–854] and the Coping Styles Questionnaire [CSQ — Roger, D., Jarvis, G. & Najarian, B. (1993). Detachment and coping: the construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 15, 619–626]. However, the analyses also showed that the apparent similarities between the COPE, MCI and CSQ may mask significant underlying differences, which have important implications for the way in which coping is assessed. In a further analysis, radial parcel analysis [Cattell, R. B. & Burdsal, C. A. (1975). The radial parcel double factoring design: a solution to the item-vs-parcel controversy. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 10, 165–191] was used in an attempt to force the COPE questions into the original 13 four-item sub-scales, but this failed. A new scoring key is proposed.