Abstract

The present study was designed to develop a multidimensional coping scales, encompassing personal, social, and religious coping. For this purpose, there independent studies were conducted. The initial item pool was generated from both theoretical and empirical approach: a control theoretical model on coping, a variety of domestic and foreign coping scales, and an open questionnaire on stress and coping. In Study 1, participants were 230 adult population, and the item selection was made from 122 initial item pool into 36 items covering 9 coping styles. The examination of reliability and validity of a scale was utilized by factor analysis and Cronbach alpha's. In study 2, the participants were 345 college students. Item selection was made from 90 items into 39 items for 10 coping styles. In study 3, employing another 811 college students as participants, the initial pool of 105 items were narrowed down into 15 coping styles consisting of 64 items. Eventually, the final version of a multidimensional coping scale is composed of personal, social, and religious coping resources: (Personal Coping Resources), active coping, passive withdrawal, emotional expression, active forgetting, perseverance, positive interpretation, positive comparision, accommodation, fatalism, self-criticism, emotional pacification; (Social Coping Resources), problem-solving social support seeking, emotional social support seeking; (Religious Coping Resources), religious seeking. Finally, the present findings were discussed within the context of stress and coping, and implications for future studies were suggested.