Pitfalls in the Use of Brief Screening Measures of Coping

The construct of coping has become a central component of empirical research in pediatric psychology. This burgeoning interest in coping reflects a shift in the field towards assessing adaptive functioning in both chronically ill children and children with acute medical conditions. Unfortunately, there is no consensus about a "gold standard" measure to assess coping in pediatric psychology. The lack of a gold standard is due, at least in part, to the fact that there are many different definitions of coping and that the emphasis on type of coping varies markedly from study to study. Even in circumstances where two studies examine the same coping strategy or coping style, the items tapping this coping strategy are often quite different. Clinical researchers also are typically interested in examining a number of factors (e.g., the health care delivery system, family factors, and certain individual traits) in addition to adaptive mechanisms, such as coping, when studying adjustment in pediatric patients. Thus, brief measures of coping are often desired. The Kidcope (Spirito, Stark, & Williams, 1988) is an example of a screening measure of coping for the clinical researcher. The Kidcope contains 10 common cognitive and behavioral coping strategies designed to cut across situations. At the same time, it was recognized that these coping strategies would not be appropriate for all situations, and that there would be times when additional items would be needed to examine certain questions. The items were not categorized into any higher order structure because the function of a particular coping strategy was believed to vary by situation. Clearly, the brevity of the Kidcope has been its greatest appeal.