Keywords:

Coping, Adolescents

Background:

This scale has been used to assess coping strategies among adolescents, and was initially developed and tested with a sample of Midwestern junior and senior high school students (Patterson and McCubbin, 1987).

Later studies used a sample consisting of 244 ninth grade student of Latino and Caucasian descent (Copeland and Hess, 1995).

Developer:

Joan M. Patterson and Hamilton I. McCubbin

Copyright:

Publisher: The Association for the Psychiatric Study of Adolescents

Subscales:

For separate sets of subscales, see Patterson and McCubbin, 1987, and Copeland and Hess, 1995.

Reliability:

For internal consistency data for subscales initially reported with the scale, see Patterson and McCubbin, 1987.
For internal consistency data for subscales reported with a later sample, see Copeland and Hess, 1995.

Assessment:

Scale items:

When you face difficulties or feel tense, how often do you...

1. Go along with parent's requests and rules
2. Read
3. Try to be funny and make light of it all
4. Apologize to people
5. Listen to music-stereo, radio
6. Talk to a teacher or counselor at school about what bothers you
7. Eat food
8. Try to stay away from home as much as possible
9. Use drugs prescribed by doctor
10. Get more involved in activities in school
11. Go shopping, buy things you like
12. Try to reason with parents and talk things out, compromise
13. Try to improve yourself (get body in shape, get better grades, etc.)
14. Cry
15. Try to think of the good things in your life
16. Be with a boyfriend or girlfriend
17. Ride around in the car
18. Say nice things ("warm fuzzies") to others
19. Get angry and yell at people
20. Joke and keep a sense of humor
21. Talk to a minister/priest/rabbi
22. Let off steam by complaining to family members
23. Go to church
24. Use drugs (not necessarily prescribed by a doctor)
25. Organize your life and what you have to do
26. Swear
27. Work hard on school work or school projects
28. Blame others for what's going on
29. Be close with someone you care about
30. Try to help other people solve their problems
31. Talk to your mother about what bothers you
32. Try, on your own, to figure out how to deal with your problems or tension
33. Work on a hobby you have (sewing, biking, etc.)
34. Get professional counseling (not a school teacher or school counselor)
35. Try to keep up friendships or make new friends
36. Tell yourself the problem(s) is not important
37. Go to a movie
38. Daydream about how you would like things to be
39. Talk to a brother or sister about how you feel
40. Get a job or work harder at one
41. Do things with your family
42. Smoke
43. Watch T. V.
44. Pray
45. Try to see the good things in a difficult situation
46. Drink beer, wine, liquor
47. Try to make your own decisions
48. Sleep
49. Say mean things to people, be sarcastic
50. Talk to your father about what bothers you
51. Let off steam by complaining to your friends
52. Talk to a friend about how you feel
53. Play video games (Space Invaders, Pac-Man), pool, pinball, etc.
54. Do a strenuous physical activity (jogging, biking, etc.)

USE THE FOLLOWING RESPONSE CATEGORIES.

1. Never
2. Hardly
3. Sometimes
4. Often
5. Most of the time

References:

• Copeland, E.P., Hess, R.S. (1995). Differences in young adolescents' coping strategies based on gender and ethnicity. Journal of Early Adolescence, 15, 203-219.
• Patterson, J.M., McCubbin, H.I. (1987). Adolescent Coping Style and Behaviors - Conceptualization and Measurement. Journal of Adolescence, 10 (2): 163-186.
  

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