Comparing Two Approaches for the Assessment of Coping

Abstract

Stress coping inventories can be divided into trait questionnaires independent from situational factors and situation-related inventories. In a previous study, a situation-related version of the Stressverarbeitungsfragebogen (SVF120; Janke & Erdmann, 1997 ), adapted from the instructions of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ, Folkman & Lazarus, 1988 ), showed reliabilities and factor structures similar to those of the standard version. In the present study, we compared the medium-term stability over a time period of 4 weeks between the situational WCQ version and the situation-independent standard version of the SVF120. The standard version of the SVF120 was filled out by 140 subjects and the WCQ version by 132 subjects. We could confirm that both questionnaires provide similar psychometric properties when a single assessment is considered. We found, however, distinct differences in stability over time. While stability coefficients of the standard version are close to the values of the internal consistency of the scales and factors, almost all stability coefficients of the WCQ version were significantly lower. Absolute stability proved to be considerably lower for the WCQ version. It can be concluded that the WCQ test format is not appropriate for the assessment of person-environment transactions according to the objective of the Lazarus theory, since it is not insensitive to test repetition.