DETACHMENT AND COPING - THE CONSTRUCTION AND VALIDATION OF A NEW SCALE FOR MEASURING COPING STRATEGIES

The present study describes he construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies entitled the Coping Styles Questionnaire (CSQ). Earlier studies had suggested that there were three primary coping components: task, emotion, and avoidance. In part, the validation of the CSQ confirmed these results, extracting factors concerned with problem-solving (Rational Coping, RATCOP), emotion (Emotional Coping, EMCOP) and avoidance (Avoidance Coping, AVCOP). However, a new factor was uncovered which tapped distancing or detachment (Detached Coping, DETCOP). Subsequent analyses suggested a grouping of two adaptive (RATCOP and DETCOP) and two maladaptive (EMCOP and AVCOP) coping styles, which was confirmed by the concurrent validation of the scale using the Emotion Control Questionnaire.