Analyses of coping responses and adjustment: stability of conclusions

This study was conducted to determine the stability of conclusions derived from analyses of different ways of scoring coping responses in relation to the adjustment of subjects who had survived a burn injury. As part of a larger study of adjustment to burn injury, 260 adults who had sustained a burn injury over a 12-year period consented to complete the Billings and Moos Coping Responses Scale (CRS; Moos, Cronkite, Billings, & Finney, 1984) and the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS; Deragotis & Lopez, 1983). A clinician made a global assessment of each subject's adjustment. Three ways of scoring the CRS were used for analyses: Method and Foci of coping (Indices of Coping Responses), as suggested by Moos et al. (1984), new factor analysis, and separate responses. Stepwise multiple regression analysis of each of these with three different outcomes of adjustment (PAIS, global clinical judgment scores, and the PAIS psychological distress component) gave consistent results. The more adjusted burn survivors used more problem-solving coping responses and fewer avoidance responses. The two responses in the individual multiple regression analysis gave a higher correlation than the factor or index descriptors. These two responses correlated well with all three adjustment outcomes, r = .49, .37, and .47. The relationship between coping behavior and adjustment to illness was not sensitive to the different ways of scoring the CRS.