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Action Type-Based Factorial Structure of Brief COPE among Hong Kong Chinese

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Abstract

Brief COPE (Carver in International journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(1), 92–100, 1997) is a multidimensional scale that measures situational and dispositional coping responses. This study evaluated its factor structure and psychometric properties using two Hong Kong college samples (Sample 1; n = 204 & Sample 2; n = 221). Results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that an eleven-factor model, based on action goals (Skinner et al. in Psychological Bulletin, 129(2), 216, 2003), demonstrated a good fit across the two samples. The eleven-factor model fit the data better than five alternative models. We also validated a Traditional Chinese translation of the scale. Multiple-groups CFAs indicated partial scalar invariance across the English and Chinese versions in Hong Kong participants. Nonetheless, convergent validity was supported by the associations between the scores of some, but not all, of the dimensions and related psychological constructs, including psychological distress, optimism, and locus of control. Such associations might help differentiate conceptually distinct coping dimensions. Likewise, our results provided support for the reliability of some, but not all, of the subscale scores. In sum, our results support the multidimensionality of Brief COPE and the use of some of the measure’s factors and subscales. Moreover, Brief COPE and its translated version demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties in Hong Kong Chinese.

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Notes

  1. The items of Brief COPE were rated on a four-point scale. As such, it might be more appropriate to treat them as categorical, as opposed to continuous, and accordingly use Diagonally Weighted Least Squares (DWLS) as the method of estimation. When comparing the current CFA results with those using DWLS, we found that the fit indexes from latter were more favorable, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .03 for both samples. However, when using this approach, some of the cells were empty in the multi-groups CFA, rendering the analysis impossible. Because of this, and for the sake of consistency, we reported the ML results.

  2. We thank one of our anonymous reviewers for pointing this out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Kristen N. S. Tang & Christian S. Chan

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

    Janice Ng & Chun-Hei Yip

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  1. Kristen N. S. Tang
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  2. Christian S. Chan
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Correspondence to Christian S. Chan.

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Kristen N. S. Tang, Christian S. Chan, Janice Ng and Chun-Hei Yip declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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The authors thank Cecilia Cheng, Sing-hang Cheung, and the anonymous referees for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

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Tang, K.N.S., Chan, C.S., Ng, J. et al. Action Type-Based Factorial Structure of Brief COPE among Hong Kong Chinese. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 38, 631–644 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-016-9551-0

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