..

11111

MANUAL

FOR

COPING STY.L E
r

Constructed & Standardized by

Dr. Manju Mishra
Dept. of Psychology

Hirala~ Ramniwas P.G .. College

Sant Kabir Nagar (Khalilaba") U.P.

Published By :
MANOVAIGYANIK PARIKCHHAN SANSTHAN
Sanjay Nagar Colony
Chowkagbat - VARANASI.
 Introduct ion:
Coping has been defined by Lazarus and Folkmal ( 1984 ):
l ,azarus. ( 1966) as the behavioural and cognitive eftorts one uses to
manage the internal and externa l demands of a stressful situation.
'-

Tvlo lonns of coping have been described by Lazarus and his

col leagues. 1'hey have described two form of coping problem focused
coping and e1notion focu sed coping. (Folkn1an. 1989: Lazaru:.. and
Folkman, 1984 ). Problem focused coping strategi c;s are directed
towards the n1anage1nent of a problem where as Emotion- focused
coping strategies (including strategies such as escapism, self-blame
and avoidance ) are directed towards ameliorati on of the associatio n
level of e1notional ~tress. ln addition of these. There are strategjes that
can serve both problem and emotion focused functions e.g .. Seeking
social support which can provide both e111otional and practical support.
In ~everal studies the etfects of different coping efforts on individual 's
levels of adjustment,are investigated. Problem focused coping strategies
have been reported to have positive ass0ciatio n with n1easures of
psycholog ical well-bein g (Folkn1an. Lazarus, Gruen and Delongis,
I 986 ). While e1notion focused strategies tend to be associated with
poor 1nenta1 health (Aldwin and Revenson 1987; Ten-y, 1991 C).
There are several measures for assessn1ent of coping. The most
popular existing measures of coping is ways of coping checklist.
(Folkman and Lazarus, 1980) Billings and Moos ( 1981 ~ 1984) Stone
~nd Neale ( 1984) have also developed measures to assess coping. A
-urvey of these existing 1ne~. ·ures revealed there n1ajor shortcomi ngs.
~ irst although there are good d.:al of diversity in various 1neasures but
1onc of existing n1easures cover all theorticall y spec i fie din1ensions,
econd. the scales suffer fro111 a1nbiguity. the third proble1n is related
1 ith the developn1 ent of the scales. Most existing scales have been
erived e1npirical ly rather than thcortically. Keeping these problen1s
1 mind. C arver. Scheier and Weintraub ( 1989) have developed a new
1easure to assess coping. They have used t\VO theortical 111odels as
uidelines the Lazarus 1nodel for stress and a 1nodel of behaviour al
lf regulation of carver and scheir ( 1981. 1983. 1985 ). This measure
named as 'COPE'. and it has 15 dillirent seals.
 co pi ng str ate gy sc ale is l ·a_ ~L·d _on carver el. al ( 198
a;..r: Pn.:~ent
inv en to ry ha s tl11rt -Jr 1l~ n1s. l here <.1r ~r.. 't,,lJ)
. . __ 1 1 his co pi ng
. ~. . ~ . . , les .s wt .nlt ". I\
cop1ng sea e... .,_. · n1s. De ta1 1o 1 Lie 1 11. te(;n sca . 1 1, C<:il'.n(L
1110 1 \\'0 tte . . 1
scales eac I1 ea rr _ ~ the pr oc e~ s of tc1k 111 0 Ste n (.
. pin g - Ac tiv e co ping Is. . . _ . . 0 . ,,s to tr,
.
I. Active co or c irc un1 ve nt the st1 essnI 0 1 to c1111e I1o rat e Hs c4-'r .
. . . . ~ • ,,ects.
e . . . . > _ • •
g ,,
to remov
o clu de s 1n1 t1a t1n g d11 cc t actio.n. increasin Ones
·ve co r c 111nin .
Ac t I
g to ex ec ut e ~ co pi ng att e1 np t 1n ste pwise fashion·
eftc)rts and tryin ·
Iten1 No . 20 . 24 . .
ni ng _ Pl an ni ng is th in ki ng ab out ho ,v to co pe with a stressor
2_ Plan in g up wi th ac tiv e strate gies , think ing about
pla nn ing inv olv e~ , co in
to be tak en an d ho w to ha nd le th e problem in the
that steps ha ve
best way. ltem No. 5, 12.
of Co m pe tin g ,A_ ct iv iti es - Su ppress ion of co mpeting
3. Su ppression
tiv iti es 1n ea ns pu tti ng ot he r pr oj ec ts as id e1 trying to avoid
ac
ing di str ac ted by ot he r ev en ts. lte,n No. 18, 30.
beco1n
t Co pi ng - Re str an it co pi ng is waiting until an appropriate
4. Restrain
y to ac t pr es en t its elf . ho ld in g on es el fb ac k and not acting
opportunit
pren1aturely. Iten1 No. 8, 26.
l Su pp or t fo r In st ru m en ta l Re as on s - Seeking
5. Seeking Socia in g advice assistance
r ins tru 1n en ta] re as on s is se ek
social support fo
or infon11ation. Iten1 No. 4, 17.
g So cia l Su pp or t fo r Em ot io na l re as on s - Seeking social
6. Seekin
tio na l re as on s is ge tti ng 1n ora l suppo11, syn1pathy or
support for en1o
understanding. Item No. 9, 14.
Ve nt in g of Em ot io ns - Fo cu s 011 ventin2. of en1otions is
7. Focus on
fo cu s on w ha te ve r di st re ss o; upset one is
the t~nde_ncy to
nc ,ng an d to ve nt ila te th os e fe elings. Iten1 No. 3. 23.
expene
8· Beha:ioural Disengagement - Bc ha vi :u ra l discn~a pemenl is
· l ... \ ~111g up the
I reduc t= 111° on e's .
cf to t t
r o ca wi t
,. v
d
·tl
I
I ·
1
h
the slr cs so r ev en Ei
. . - ·ng. 11 c•111
att e1np_l to_att ain oo als 1 1 w 11 c t 1 1c stres sor is in ter icn
I No. 2 22 b "

·. 1·cs
, · ,·11
se no a cm e t _ \ 1 " , . clu <le ll\
9· .vJcn, . ta I Oi o
n · entt1 1 d1 sen ~a 0 c11 1e nt 1n ac
·nc
, I, . " . t-, r1· · . '- "
I l 1l.ll ldke Olk · ' s lll tnd n1 10111 a proh le 111. Ii kc day
t:-,
d r~·'u n inu cs cn P'
lll l.UU(J) . • C

1 S k L'j )() · I v 'e .

'' ' ng l V etc . l lL' in '\ o . I . 9.
I ~ . , .., )

I
 positive rcinterpretat~on and growth - Pos itive reinterpretation
'J(l.
:11 1d w·ow_ or
th _1ne~n~ r~1~k1ng the b~st out th~ s ituation by growing
irnlll 1t 01 v1e~v1n_g 1t 1n a 1nore f avourahl e light. Item No. I, _
19
If. Denial - De~tal is an attempt to reject the reality of the stressful
en~nt. Itetn No. 16, 2. -
12. Acceptance-Acceptance means accepting the fact that the stressful
event has occured and is real. Ite1n No. 13. 29.
J3. Religion - Religion as a coping strategy mean s increased
cngagen1ent in religious activities. Iten1 No. 11. 25.
J4. Alcohol or Dr_u g Use - In this coping strategy one turns to use
alcohol or other drugs as a way of disengaging fron1 the stressor.
rrem No. I 0. 28.
15. Humor - Hu111or as ~ coping strategy n1cans taking the stressor
lightly and n1aking jokes about the stressor. Item No. 6. 27.
Administration and Scoring :
The scale can be administered individually or in group situation.
Each item has four alternatives. The subject is asked to give his
response on four point scale as-
( i) I usuaIIy do not do this at all. (ii) I usually-do this a little bit.
(iii) I usually do this a mediun1 an1ount' (iv) [ usually do this a lot.
Once score is given for ticking the first alternative, 2 is given for
second alternative and 3 is given for the third and four is given for
the fourth alternative. Obtained scores are interpret~d separately
for each fifteen coping strategies.
Reliability and Validity :
The scale \Vas adn1 inistered to 300 n1alc and fen1al..:s belonging ll:
three districts of Eastern l Jttar Pradesh. Subject~ age range \Vas
14-45 years. Coeflicent of correlation het\\'Cen original Fnu_li
'- ... sh
CO PE scale and the present scale \\' JS 0.7R. cncfticil·nt ul·
~orrelation bel\\een· the Jong 60 iten1 I lindi \'ersiun and ~hon ~O
lll:n, Hindi ,·crsion.sca)c \Vas 0.74. Thu~ test validit, is fo1111d to he
5
atisfocto1') . Tc~t retest rcliabi lit) or thl' pr~~rnt ~~a le "us 1uund
0.80 O\'P"" 1· a gap o (' 1·our \Vee k·s.

A
=-~~~~~~~~------- -- ~
1nte rpr eta tion :
o(t he scores 01
The obt ain ed sco res are exp lain ed on the bas is
gories.
eac h fift een sca les. Sca le can be gro up in two cate
scale l\o. 1. 2
1· App roa ch cop ing style - Total sco res obt aine d on
3. 5. 7. 8, 9, and 15.
on scgles No. 4.
2. Avo ida nce cop int styl e- Total sco res obt ain ed
6. 10, 11 , 12, 13. and 14.
ing style will
Sub ject s who will sco re hig her on app roa ch cop
ons wh_ile those
n1ore suc ces sful ly han dle thei r stre ssfu le co~ diti
styl e will not be
sub ject s who sco re hig her on avo ida nce cop mg
the stressful life
abl e to suc ces sfu lly face the stre ssfu lly fac e
ssfu l conditon.
con diti ons . The y \vould rath er go awa y form the stre
References :
cop ing he,p? A Re
A. Id win , C.M. &· Rev ens on, T.A . ( 1987), Do es
Me nta l Health.
exa min atio n of the Rel atio n Bet wee n Cop ing and
237 -24 8.
Jou rna l of Per son alit y and Soc ial Psy cho log y, 53,
of Cop ing Responses
Bill in~~- A.G. & Mo os, R.H . ( 1981 ). The Rop le
of Lif e Evems.
and Soc ial Res our ces in Att enu atio n the Str ess
Joun1al of Beh avi our al Me dic ine , 4, 139-157.
Carver. C.S. Scheier, M.F. & Weintrab, J.K. ( 198
9). Ass essi ng Coping
l of Personality and
Strategies : A theoretically bas ed App roa ch. Jou rna
Social Psychology, 56, 267-283.
and Cop ing Proce-,
Folk1nan, S. ( 1984). Per son al Con trol and Str ess
alit y and Social
: A The ore tica l ana lys is. Jou rna l of per son
Psy cho log y, 46, 839-852.
st be a Process:
Folkrnan. S. & Laz.arus, R.S. ( 1985). If it Changes lt Mu
of a College
Study_ of_ E1notion and Cop ing Du ring . Three Stages
EXQJnmat1on. Jownal ofpersonality and Social Psvcho .__ ~
logy. 48. 150-1 70.
and ( ·t)pi nt
I.aza rus. R.S. & Fol km an. S. ( 1984 ). Stress Appraisal
nc\v York : Spr ing er.
• · · ' 'L'''
! d : ,1!·u s. l{ ~ ( I 996) · fJs) ·cli o Iog1· ca I .Stre~ s and C optn!! Proccs" . "
. -~ ·
')~)rk : VlcGra\-v Ifill. · ..