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Instrument Title

The COPE

View PDF - The COPE_ Carver.pdf

Source Article

Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 267-283.

Response Options

Indicate what YOU usually do when YOU experience a stressful event.

1 = I usually don't do this at all
2 = I usually do this a little bit
3 = I usually do this a medium amount
4 = I usually do this a lot

Scoring:

Positive reinterpretation and growth: 1, 29, 38, 59
Mental disengagement: 2, 16, 31, 43
Focus on and venting of emotions: 3, 17, 28, 46
Use of instrumental social support: 4, 14, 30, 45
Active coping: 5, 25, 47, 58
Denial: 6, 27, 40, 57
Religious coping: 7, 18, 48, 60
Humor: 8, 20, 36, 50
Behavioral disengagement: 9, 24, 37, 51
Restraint: 10, 22, 41, 49
Use of emotional social support: 11, 23, 34, 52
Substance use: 12, 26, 35, 53
Acceptance: 13, 21, 44, 54
Suppression of competing activities: 15, 33, 42, 55
Planning: 19, 32, 39, 56

Survey Items

  1. I try to grow as a person as a result of the experience.
  2. I turn to work or other substitute activities to take my mind off things.
  3. I get upset and let my emotions out.
  4. I try to get advice from someone about what to do.
  5. I concentrate my efforts on doing something about it.
  6. I say to myself "this isn't real."
  7. I put my trust in God.
  8. I laugh about the situation.
  9. I admit to myself that I can't deal with it, and quit trying.
  10. I restrain myself from doing anything too quickly.

  11. I discuss my feelings with someone.
  12. I use alcohol or drugs to make myself feel better.
  13. I get used to the idea that it happened.
  14. I talk to someone to find out more about the situation.
  15. I keep myself from getting distracted by other thoughts or activities.
  16. I daydream about things other than this.
  17. I get upset, and am really aware of it.
  18. I seek God's help.
  19. I make a plan of action.
  20. I make jokes about it.

  21. I accept that this has happened and that it can't be changed.
  22. I hold off doing anything about it until the situation permits.
  23. I try to get emotional support from friends or relatives.
  24. I just give up trying to reach my goal.
  25. I take additional action to try to get rid of the problem.
  26. I try to lose myself for a while by drinking alcohol or taking drugs.
  27. I refuse to believe that it has happened.
  28. I let my feelings out.
  29. I try to see it in a different light, to make it seem more positive.
  30. I talk to someone who could do something concrete about the problem.

  31. I sleep more than usual.
  32. I try to come up with a strategy about what to do.
  33. I focus on dealing with this problem, and if necessary let other things slide a little.
  34. I get sympathy and understanding from someone.
  35. I drink alcohol or take drugs, in order to think about it less.
  36. I kid around about it.
  37. I give up the attempt to get what I want.
  38. I look for something good in what is happening.
  39. I think about how I might best handle the problem.
  40. I pretend that it hasn't really happened.

  41. I make sure not to make matters worse by acting too soon.
  42. I try hard to prevent other things from interfering with my efforts at dealing with this.
  43. I go to movies or watch TV, to think about it less.
  44. I accept the reality of the fact that it happened.
  45. I ask people who have had similar experiences what they did.
  46. I feel a lot of emotional distress and I find myself expressing those feelings a lot.
  47. I take direct action to get around the problem.
  48. I try to find comfort in my religion.
  49. I force myself to wait for the right time to do something.
  50. I make fun of the situation.

  51. I reduce the amount of effort I'm putting into solving the problem.
  52. I talk to someone about how I feel.
  53. I use alcohol or drugs to help me get through it.
  54. I learn to live with it.
  55. I put aside other activities in order to concentrate on this.
  56. I think hard about what steps to take.
  57. I act as though it hasn't even happened.
  58. I do what has to be done, one step at a time.
  59. I learn something from the experience.
  60. I pray more than usual.

Internal Reliability

Cronbach's alpha varies from 0.62 to 0.92 for various scales; one scale has alpha =0.45. All scales have high test retest reliability.

Validity

Convergent and discriminant validity

Google Scholar

View article on Google Scholar

Terms Of Use

Individuals may use this information for research or educational purposes only and may not use this information for commercial purposes. When using this instrument, please cite:

Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 267-283.

When presenting results using any survey information you obtained from the SABI, please acknowledge the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), an NIH funded program P30 AI50410.