Description

The Child Coping Behaviors Measure is an adapted version of the Brief COPE (28 items) scale, designed to assess the range of coping strategies children use when experiencing stress. The adapted measure consists of 9 items that prompt children (and caregivers of children) to reflect on how often they engage in specific behaviors when something stressful or difficult happens. The purpose of this strengths-based measure is to understand children’s typical responses to stress and identify patterns in positive coping behaviors. Scores can be interpreted by subscales (e.g., emotional support) or as a total coping score. Higher scores on positive coping subscales reflect healthier, more adaptive coping behaviors.

AI/AN Communities where the measure has been used

Southwest tribal communities.

Demographics of AI/AN participants where the scale has been used

Caregivers and youth.

Notes on adaptations or modifications

  1. There are two versions of this measure: one caregiver report on youth and one youth self-report. A few minor changes in language have been made to tailor items to these participant groups
  2. Reduced number of items as compared to the original Brief COPE scale
  3. Added an item “My child/I know what to do to cope with stressful circumstances in life” – with a 5 point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”

Modality and administration

Caregiver report or youth self-report; administration method unspecified.

Scoring

8 items follow a 4-point Likert scale and are scored on a scale of 1 to 4; 1 = My child hasn’t/I haven’t been doing this at all, 2 = My child has/I have been doing this a little bit, 3 = My child has/I have been doing this a medium amount, 4 = My child has/I have been doing this a lot. In both measures, 1 item follows a 5-point response scale; Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly agree. A global coping score may be created by summing all item scores or subscale scores can be determined by summing the item responses within each subscale.

Psychometric evidence

Carver (1997)

Active Coping α = .68
Planning α = .73
Positive Reframing α = .64
Acceptance α= .57
Humor α =.73
Religion α= .82
Using emotional support α = .71
Using instrumental support α = .64
Self-distraction α = .71
Denial α = .54
Venting α = .50
Substance use α = .90
Behavioural disengagement α = .65
Self=blame α = .69

Citation(s)

  • 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. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0401_6
  • Sittner, K. J., Herman, K. A., Gonzalez, M. B., & Walls, M. L. (2023). A longitudinal study of positive mental health and coping among Indigenous adults with type 2 diabetes. Anxiety, stress, and coping, 36(3), 339–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2022.2076082
  • Gonzalez, M. B., Sittner, K. J., Saniguq Ullrich, J., & Walls, M. L. (2021). Spiritual connectedness through prayer as a mediator of the relationship between Indigenous language use and positive mental health. Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology, 27(4), 746–757. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000466

Note: One REDCap file includes both adult-report on child and youth self-report measures