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The Coping Scale for Adults: Correlates of productive and nonproductive coping

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Erica Frydenberg  and
Ramon Lewis
Erica Frydenberg*
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Ramon Lewis
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Australia
*
Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, PARKVILLE Victoria 3010, Phone: 61 3 8344 9541, Fax: 61 3 8344 0995, E-Mail: e.frydenberg@unimelb.edu.au
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Abstract

Frydenberg and Lewis (1997) designed the Coping Scale for Adults (CSA) as an instrument to be used by parents, teachers, and administrators to develop their coping resources. This review of six studies using the CSA examined its validity and utility. The studies showed signifiant relationships between nonproductive CSA coping strategies and a number of undesired outcomes such as low self-esteem, feelings of being overwhelmed, and stress. Similarly, a consistent pattern of findings across studies linked the produaive strategies of the CSA to more positive outcomes and less negative ones. The findings appear to provide support for recent research indicating that the linkage between maladaptive styles and negative outcomes is stronger than are links between productive styles and productive outcomes. Consequently, therapeutic enhancement of productive coping strategies needs to be distinguished from therapeutic weakening of nonproductive coping strategies.

Keywords

Construct ValidityCoping StrategiesAdult CopingNonproductive Coping
Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , 2002 , pp. 5 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2002

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