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Brief-COPE

Brief-COPE
psychologyhealth sciencesFree for research use

Permission: Free for research use. Free for non-commercial academic research, with no license fee. Cite the original publication.

A 28-item abbreviated version of the COPE inventory measuring 14 coping strategies (two items each), spanning problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant coping.

Items
28
Response format
4-point frequency scale
Version
1.0
Subscales
14

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Coping was assessed with the Brief-COPE (Carver, 1997), a 28-item measure of 14 coping strategies (two items each), each scored as a separate scale.

Citing this in a methods section? This scale spans more than one discipline, so the style depends on where you publish. See the APA 7 or Vancouver guides, or compare all six citation styles.

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Reliability & validation

Validation population
Community adults recovering from Hurricane Andrew (Carver, 1997)

Subscales

Active copingPlanningPositive reframingAcceptanceHumorReligionUsing emotional supportUsing instrumental supportSelf-distractionDenialVentingSubstance useBehavioral disengagementSelf-blame

Response anchors

I haven't been doing this at all · I've been doing this a little bit · I've been doing this a medium amount · I've been doing this a lot

Known limitations

Each of the 14 subscales has only two items, so individual subscale reliabilities are modest and unstable; researchers often combine them into higher-order composites whose structure varies across samples.

Original citation

Carver, C. S. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol's too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(1), 92-100.

https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0401_6

Questions researchers ask

What does the Brief-COPE measure?

A 28-item abbreviated version of the COPE inventory measuring 14 coping strategies (two items each), spanning problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant coping.

How many items does the Brief-COPE have?

The Brief-COPE (Brief-COPE) has 28 items across 14 subscales: Active coping, Planning, Positive reframing, Acceptance, Humor, Religion, Using emotional support, Using instrumental support, Self-distraction, Denial, Venting, Substance use, Behavioral disengagement, Self-blame.

Is the Brief-COPE free to use?

The Brief-COPE is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.

Who developed the Brief-COPE, and how do I cite it?

Carver, C. S. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol's too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(1), 92-100. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0401_6

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Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference. Questionnaires are built in Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing, and can be taken to Qualtrics, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, with their CSV responses brought back for scoring.