Towards the assessment of adaptive vs. rigid coping styles: Validation of the Frankfurt Monitoring Blunting Scales by means of confirmatory factor analysis

Abstract

The article reports on the statistical validation of a new inventory to assess rigid and adaptive coping styles. Rigid coping refers to either Monitoring or Blunting in situations implying threat and thereby disregarding situational control contingencies. Adaptive coping pertains to the employment of Monitoring strategies in controllable situations and Blunting strategies in uncontrollable situations. The Frankfurt Monitoring Blunting Scales (FMBS) are a revised version of the Miller Behavioral Style Scale (MBSS), extended by the inclusion of controllable situations that are lacking in the MBSS. Confirmatory factor analyses of an Austrian and a German sample show that the scales measure the constructs reliably, parameter estimates concur with those predicted by theory, and that the factorial structure is invariant across the two German-speaking nations. The methodological and diagnostic implications of the model are discussed.