Measuring Outcome Expectancies for Specific Coping Behaviors: the Coping Expectancies Scale (CES)

Outcome expectancies for specific coping strategies may help explain why people vary in their choices of coping strategies (e.g., whether to smoke a cigarette or talk to a friend). These choices have relevance to both physical and mental health. The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of a new measure of mood regulation expectancies for specific explicit coping strategies, the Coping Expectancies Scale (CES). 552 adults completed the CES and other measures online. Factor analysis of the CES using Maximum Likelihood Extraction with promax rotation revealed three factors: Expectancies for Passive/Avoidant Coping, Expectancies for Active Behavioral Coping, and Expectancies for Active Cognitive Coping. Concurrent, discriminant, and predictive validity for these factors were strong, as was retest reliability. The CES enables researchers to measure expectancies for specific coping strategies, which may in turn help to explain people’s choices of strategies. In addition, the ability to measure these expectancies may allow for the development of treatment interventions that directly target them, ultimately enabling clients to adjust their expectancies and their choices of coping behavior, with implications for health and well-being.