Use of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations in a clinically depressed sample: Factor structure, personality correlates, and prediction of distress

Abstract

The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS; Endler & Parker, 1990) is a self‐report measure of Emotion‐, Task‐, and Avoidance‐oriented coping. The psychometric properties of the CISS were evaluated in a large sample of outpatients with major depressive disorder (N = 298). The CISS scales demonstrated good reliability and support for their factorial validity was obtained. Relationships between the CISS scales and the broad personality domains from the five‐factor model of personality, as well as two measures of emotional distress, were examined. Less‐adaptive coping strategies (i.e., Emotion‐oriented coping) were associated with less‐adaptive personality traits (i.e., Neuroticism) and with psychological distress (i.e., Depression), whereas the reverse was found regarding adaptive coping strategies (i.e., Task‐orientated coping). The incremental validity of the CISS was demonstrated by multiple‐regression analyses that found two CISS scales accounted for significant variance in psychological distress beyond that contributed by the demographic and personality variables. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 59: 423–437, 2003.