Reliability
Internal Consistency
The CISS exhibited Cronbach alpha coefficients for task-oriented coping of .88 for men and .91 for women;
emotion-oriented coping alpha coefficients were .76 for men and .81 for women; and avoidance-oriented coping
alpha coefficients were .77 for men and .83 for women (Endler & Parker, 1990). The CISS-SSC produced similarly
consistent scales, with alpha coefficients of .78 for men and .78 for women on task-oriented coping, .83 for men and
.84 for women on emotion-oriented coping, and .70 for men and .80 for women on avoidance-oriented coping.
Test/C0Retest
Test/C0retest reliability statistics were moderate over eight weeks ( Endler & Parker, 1994 ). The three subscales
yielded test /C0retest reliabilities of .74, .66, and .68 for task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented
coping, respectively. Later tests by Endler and Parker (1994) confirmed the consistency of these psychometric
findings in new samples. Test /C0retest reliability over 12 weeks was found to be poor to moderate by other
researchers, however (.58 to .62; Rafnsson, Smari, Windle, Mears, & Endler, 2006 ).
Validity
Convergent/Concurrent
The CISS showed acceptable convergent validity in tests that compared the measure with the Ways of Coping
Questionnaire (WCQ; Folkman & Lazarus, 1988 ) and the Coping Strategy Indicator (CSI; Amirkhan, 1990 , both
measures reviewed later in this chapter). The CISS task-oriented coping subscale correlated strongly and posi-
tively with the WCQ and CSI problem-focused subscales ( r5.67 and .50, respectively; Endler & Parker, 1990;
Endler & Parker, 1994 ).
Subscales in the CISS also correlate in expected ways with relevant personality traits. For example, Cosway,
Endler, Sadler, and Deary (2007) found task-oriented coping was positively associated with extraversion ( r5.24),
while emotion-oriented coping was positively associated with neuroticism ( r5.63). In addition to these patterns,
task-oriented coping was positively associated ( r5.35) with conscientiousness, a personality trait that is associ-
ated with thoroughness, efficiency, and task-focused action.
Divergent/Discriminant
Cosway et al. (2007) found that emotion-oriented and avoidance coping were unrelated to problem-focused
subscales of the WCQ and CSI. They also found that task-oriented coping was negatively associated with neuroti-
cism ( r52.23), and emotion-oriented coping was negatively associated with extraversion ( r52.26) and consci-
entiousness ( r52.32). All three coping subscales tended to be uncorrelated with psychoticism, suggesting good
discriminant validity (Endler & Parker, 1990).
Construct/Factor Analytic
Construct validity of the CISS was established in Endler and Parker’s (1994) original assessment. In this study,
832 college students and 483 adult community members completed the CISS, and a principal components analy-
sis was conducted to determine the CISS structure. In both samples, there was support for a three-component
structure. The task-oriented items loaded uniquely on one component, the emotion-focused items uniquely on
another component, and with the exception of two items in the adult community sample, the avoidance items
loaded uniquely on a third component. This structure has since been replicated in a range of other populations,
including health professionals ( Cosway et al., 2007 ) and patients with major depressive disorder ( McWilliams,
Cox, & Enns, 2003 ).
Criterion/Predictive
In initial tests by Endler and Parker (1990), emotion-oriented coping was found to covary positively with a
number of disorders of emotion regulation, including depression and anxiety in both men ( r5.43 and .49) and
women ( r5.55 and .51). Task-oriented coping was negatively associated with these disorders in women
(r52.34 and 2.45), while avoidance-oriented coping was positively associated with depression and anxiety
among men ( r5.38 and .37).
More recently, Hurt et al. (2011) have found support for the validity of the CISS with patients suffering from
Parkinson’s disease. In support of the construct validity, the authors demonstrated that the use of emotion-
focused coping was positively associated with depression ( r5.45) and anxiety ( r5.65). In addition, avoidance333 TRAIT COPING MEASURES
III. EMOTION REGULATION