[Development and Validation of a German-language Short Form of the Coping Strategies Inventory]

When an external and/or internal demand is found to be depleting one's resources, certain strategies are used to cope with the associated stress. Although a correlation between emotional suppression and a higher degree of pathological states has been demonstrated, there are no short instruments in German that include this stress coping strategy. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to translate the Coping Strategies Inventory and to develop a short version of the instrument. The sample (n=272) was collected via a web-based survey; an exploratory factor analysis revealed the existence of nine stress coping strategies captured by the instrument instead of eight. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed not only appropriate psychometric properties of the nine-factor structure, but also its superiority compared with a higher-level factor structure. Significant correlations with all personality traits confirm the convergent validity of the instrument, so that its short version can be used in German-speaking countries.