What is wrong with coping assessment? A review of conceptual and methodological issues

Although numerous measures of coping have been presented in the literature, many suffer from methodological flaws. This article argues that efforts to improve coping assessment should not be Limited to enhancing psychometric quality, since methodological shortcomings reflect more basic underlying conceptual problems of the coping constuct. Two types of problems in coping assessment are discussed, based on a review of well-known coping measures. The first concerns conceptual issues, such as the process versus trait approach to coping and the lack of clear theoretical guidelines for systematic exploration of the appropriate measurement level and number of coping dimensions. The second concerns the issue of developing appropriate techniques to evaluate psychometric properties of process measures of coping. Several recommendations for improving the quality of coping assessment are suggested.