Development and validation of the coping function questionnaire for adolescents in sport

Abstract

Richard Lazarus has emphasized the need for theory based instrument development in stress and coping research. He has outlined a cognitive-motivational-relationaI theory of emotion and coping which has contributed significantly to researchers' understanding of the stress and coping process in both sport and non-sport domains. An instrument developed from theory with strong measurement properties would provide a better understanding of how adolescent sport participants attempt to manage stress experienced in sport. The instrument must be appropriate for the demands of sport as well as an adolescent aged population. The purpose of this dissertation was to present two studies regarding the development and validation of the Coping Function Questionnaire (CFQ) for adolescent sport participants. The final 18-item CFQ assessed three coping functions: (a) problem-focused coping to assess an effort to actively change and remain in the situation that was causing the stress, (b) emotion-focused coping to assess an effort to control thoughts or emotions while remaining in the situation that was causing the stress, and (c) avoidance coping to assess an effort to remove oneself either permanently or temporarily from the situation that was causing the stress. The CFQ was found to have a number of desirable measurement properties. The means, variances, and distributions of scale scores were acceptable. Scales were found to have adequate internally consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis results showed that the three coping function CFQ measurement model was acceptable for both males and females. Convergent and divergent validity was supported by latent factor correlations with existing coping instruments. Also, the three coping functions on the CFQ had weak correlations among one another, supporting the distinction between the three coping functions at a conceptual level. Overall, the two studies provided support the CFQ as valid option for assessing coping function in large sample adolescent sport studies.