Charles S. Carver

Assessment of Coping

In 1989 I published an inventory of coping reactions, called the COPE inventory, along with Michael Scheier and Jagdish Weintraub. That inventory was composed of 15 4-item scales, each measuring a different coping reaction. Although the instrument has had a good deal of use, there were some problems with its length. This has been true especially in medical populations and in studies where there is a good deal of participant response burden. As a consequence, we later created an abbreviated version of the COPE, called the Brief COPE.  The items of the COPE Inventory and the items of the Brief COPE are linked to this page, and can be copied or downloaded. Either can be used in its complete form (with scales scrambled); alternatively, scales of particular interest can be selected for use.

Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personalityand Social Psychology, 56, 267-283.

To obtain a reprint of this article, click here.

Carver, C. S. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol's too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine , 4 (1), 92-100. [abstract ]

To obtain a reprint of this article, click here.

If you are interested in a review of personality and coping, click here.

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