Development of a Coping Scale

CURRENTLY, interest in coping strategies is considerable. The coping behavior first investigated was that of persons involved in acute crises, eg, severe burn victims,^1,2grieving relatives,³surgical patients,⁴and parents of children with malignant diseases.^5,6 Studies have also been done on major psychosocial transitions, eg, high school to college,^7,8marriage,^9-11and first pregnancy.^12,13Murphy¹⁴wrote extensively on coping strategies in childhood. Mechanic¹⁵studied students under stress; Lazarus¹⁶discussed the coping process and psychological stress in general. Much of this literature was recently reviewed by Hamburg and Adams¹⁷from the vantage point of the seeking and utilizing of information under stressful conditions. Most of these studies were largely descriptive: observations from interviews from which it has been difficult to abstract general coping principles. One of the few coping instruments available is