Measuring Coping Strategies Among

African Americans: An Exploration of the Latent

Structure of the COPE Inventory

Tawanda M. Greer
University of South Carolina

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the latent factor structure of the
Coping With Problems Experienced (COPE) inventory, and to compare this struc-
ture to an imposed, culturally relevant latent structure with a sample of African
Americans. The alternate, latent structure was derived from an Africentric
framework, as well as from empirical findings on coping behaviors of African
Americans. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test both models. CFA
results indicated that the alternate latent structure represented the best overall fit
to the data, with the original latent structure yielding a moderately acceptable fit.
Implications for the use of the COPE with African Americans are discussed.

Keywords: African Americans; coping; measurement; culture-specific

A plethora of literature exists that demonstrates that African Americans

encounter an array of stressors in several life areas. Research investigations
have generally focused on exposure to generic life stressors such as finances,
housing, relationships, and parenting (e.g., Collins et al., 1998), and stress
associated with minority status, acculturation, and various forms of chronic
oppression such as racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism (e.g., Benkert
& Peters, 2005; Greer & Chwalisz, in press; Joiner & Walker, 2002; King,
2005; Mays, Cochran, & Rue, 1993). The ways in which African Americans
cope with such stressors have also received considerable empirical attention.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Please address correspondence to Tawanda M. Greer, University of

South Carolina, Department of Psychology, Barnwell College, 525-A, Columbia, SC 29208;
phone: (803) 777-6413; e-mail: tmgreer@sc.edu.
JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 33 No. 3, August 2007 260-277
DOI: 10.1177/0095798407302539
© 2007 The Association of Black Psychologists

260
 Greer / COPING STRATEGIES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS 261

However, in many investigations, mainstream coping instruments have been

used that generally were not designed to capture culture-specific strategies
employed by African Americans. The Coping With Problems Experienced
(COPE) inventory (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) is one such instru-
ment that has been used in several research studies with African Americans
(Clark, 2003, 2004; Danoff-Burg, Prelow & Swenson, 2004); however, its
conceptual foundations were derived from mainstream coping theory. Thus,
the cultural relevance of its use with members of this population warrants
empirical scrutiny.

TRADITIONAL COPING THEORY

AND THE COPE INVENTORY

Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) transactional model is perhaps one of the

most widely used conceptual frameworks in stress and coping literature. In
the transactional theory it is postulated that stress is the product of an inter-
action between the individual and the environment. Lazarus and Folkman
proposed two broad aspects of individual coping efforts, termed problem-
focused coping (i.e., attempts to resolve or alter the source of stress) and
emotion-focused coping (i.e., attempts to endure or reduce stress experienced).
The COPE inventory (Carver et al., 1989) was theoretically derived based on
the transactional theory, as well as the theory of behavioral self-regulation
(i.e., individual engagement in behaviors that lead to a specified path or goal).
The scale authors extended their conceptualizations of coping beyond
emotion-focused and problem-focused dimensions, and designed the COPE
to assess 15 strategies employed by individuals in response to stress. These
strategies are further conceptualized as being associated with latent dimen-
sions of emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping, and maladaptive
efforts, or those that serve to hinder or impede progress in resolving stressful
situations (Carver et al., 1989).
The multidimensional design of the COPE is a potential strength in cap-
turing complexities involved in coping processes. Its overall factor structure
has been validated in a number of research studies and the measure’s conver-
gent and disciminant validity have been consistently established (e.g., Carver
et al., 1989; Deisinger, Cassisi, & Whitaker, 1996; Litman, 2006). However,
the scale authors’ conceptualizations of the COPE latent factors and the vari-
ables by which these factors are measured may not be consistent with the
coping behaviors of many African Americans. For instance, the scale authors
proposed turning to religion to be an emotion-focused strategy, which, in
accordance with mainstream coping conceptualizations, implies that this
262 JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2007

strategy is used in attempts to endure distress as opposed to resolving prob-

lems. Among African Americans, religion and spirituality can serve many
complex purposes and, historically, have been primary tools of survival in the
psychological resistance of oppression, and in the maintenance of healthy
identity and sense of self (Wyatt, 2004). As coping mechanisms, religion and
spirituality are also linked to problem resolution for many African Americans
(e.g., Abrums, 2004). Therefore, the scale authors’ conceptualization of turn-
ing to religion as solely an emotion-focused strategy is culturally inaccurate
when applied to African Americans. It is possible that such conceptual limi-
tations may lead to measurement errors in use with members of this popula-
tion, as the COPE’s latent structure may not yield construct equivalence when
applied to African Americans. However, this author could not locate any
research studies in which the COPE’s validity in use with African American
populations was investigated.
In addition, Carver et al. (1989) initially designed the COPE to be adapted
by investigators for the purpose of assessing situational or dispositional styles
of coping. Situational and dispositional coping efforts are distinguishable by
virtue of whether an individual responds to stress, both cognitively and behav-
iorally, in stable and habitual ways, or whether an individual’s responses to
stress fluctuates based on specific stressful contexts (e.g., Carver & Scheier,
1994; Moos & Holahan, 2003). In considering coping behaviors of African
Americans, it is challenging to ascertain whether coping strategies employed
are situational or dispositional given the heavy influence of culture in endur-
ing, resolving, and managing difficulties, particularly in handling societal real-
ities such as subtle and overt experiences of racial discrimination. In general,
within mainstream coping literature, underlying determinants of dispositional
coping styles are investigated as being largely determined by stable personal-
ity factors (e.g., Carver et al., 1989; Moos & Holahan, 2003), with little or no
consideration of racial and ethnic background as underlying contributors to
coping styles. Therefore, researchers may potentially encounter additional
dilemmas in using the COPE with African Americans, because cultural back-
ground may likely confound a researcher’s attempt to capture situational or
dispositional coping efforts.

AFRICENTRIC THEORY AND COPING BEHAVIORS

OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

Africentric psychological theory provides a culturally relevant lens through

which coping behaviors of African Americans can be investigated. A primary
tenet of Africentric theory is that African descended persons are the develop-
ers and interpreters of their own realities and cultural experiences, as opposed
 Greer / COPING STRATEGIES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS 263

to being objects of inquiry and interpretation based on European conceptual

frameworks (Asante, 1987). This premise represents the foundation of an
Africentric worldview in which values, attitudes, and behaviors are character-
ized by a sense of unity with other African descended persons, in addition to
a reliance on spiritual and religious faith, practices, and rituals such as
prayer (e.g., Myers, 1988; Nobles, 1986). An Africentric worldview further
emphasizes interdependence and collective responsibility of all African
descended persons, and therefore individuality is not espoused (Kambon,
1992; Nobles, 1986).
Although the writings of many Africentric theorists and researchers attest
to shared perspectives on the cosmological foundations of Africentrism, there
are some proponents who suggest that African descended persons are bio-
genetically predisposed to adopt Africentric values, attitudes, and behaviors
(e.g., Kambon, 1992), whereas others are inclusive in considering the influ-
ences of environmental and societal contexts in the development of Africentic
values and behaviors (e.g., Myers, 1988). This fundamental difference holds
at least some implications for applying Africentric theory to the study of cop-
ing behaviors among African Americans. If Africentric values and behaviors
are indeed biogenetically conceived, then this perspective would hold that
coping behaviors are also biogenetically derived and employed by African
descended persons. However, a biogenetic premise to coping behaviors can-
not be empirically tested, and thus, an Africentric perspective in which envi-
ronmental and societal contexts are considered appears to be much more
viable to the study of coping behaviors for African American populations.
Myers (1988) is a primary proponent of a nonbiogenetically driven
Africentric perspective (i.e., theory of optimal psychology). She proposed that
persons of African descent can adopt an optimal worldview (i.e., one that is
spiritual, and steeped in peace, love, harmony, and justice for self and others)
as well as a suboptimal worldview (i.e., one that is steeped in individualism
and oppression). Myers discussed the term ntuology, which connotes that “all
sets are interrelated and interconnected through human and spiritual net-
works” (Myers, 1988, p.12). In other words, this paradigm is holistic, and
emphasizes interconnectedness and interdependence in relationships, as group
cohesion is vital to the maintenance of ego strength and self-esteem during
times of difficulty. In addressing problems and alleviating distress, coping
efforts are employed to achieve and/or to restore harmony, balance, and order
(Myers, 1988). In general, the theoretical perspective offered by Myers (1988)
provides both a culture-specific framework, and an underlying conceptual
explanation that can be applied to understand African Americans’ engagement
in coping strategies that lead to optimal states of functioning, or states of liv-
ing that are dysfunctional or suboptimal (e.g., the abuse of alcohol and drugs
to cope with distress).
264 JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2007

Although an Africentric framework in general is more culturally relevant in

comparison to a Western, Eurocentric framework in understanding the coping
behaviors of African Americans, there are only a limited number of coping
instruments designed to capture culture-specific coping efforts for members of
this population, such as the Africultural Coping Systems Inventory (Utsey,
Adams, & Bolden, 2000). As such, refraining from using all existing coping
instruments that were not originally designed for African Americans does not
appear to be the best option for research. Thus, it is imperative that investiga-
tors test alternative approaches to the use of such coping instruments in an effort
to at least minimally improve cultural relevancy in use with African Americans.
The purpose of the current study was to investigate the latent structure of
the COPE, as proposed by Carver et al. (1989), and to determine its fit with
an African American sample. Specifically, the current study was designed to
determine the extent to which each of the 15 strategies of the COPE associ-
ated with the broad, latent dimensions conceptualized by the scale authors. A
second purpose of the current investigation was to determine if in fact it
would be more appropriate for researchers to be guided in their use of the
COPE by Africentric psychological theory and research findings on coping
behaviors of African Americans, instead of relying on the original authors’
conceptual framework. The latter represents an etic approach to the use of the
COPE, which is inherently problematic as the measure was not designed to
capture culture-specific coping behaviors of African Americans. Therefore,
an alternative strategy to the use of the COPE was tested in which a more
emically relevant latent structure was imposed and compared to that of the
original authors. Fit indices were examined to determine which model
yielded the best fit to the data.

METHOD

PARTICIPANTS

The participants for this study were 203 African American college students.
One hundred and two of these participants were recruited from a historically
Black college/university located in the northeastern U.S., and 101 were
recruited from a predominantly White college/university located in the north-
midwestern U.S. Participants were recruited from introductory psychology
courses, Black American studies courses, and undergraduate honors courses at
both universities. Of the 203 participants in this study, 66 were male (32.5%)
and 137 were female (67.5%). Most of the participants were of traditional
college age, ranging from 18 years to 25 years (91.6%), with a small percent-
age above the age of 25 (8.4%).
 Greer / COPING STRATEGIES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS 265

MATERIALS

The dispositional version of the COPE was used and tested in the current
investigtion. COPE items are answered in Likert-type format, ranging from
1 (I usually don’t do this at all) to 4 (I usually do this a lot). Scale scores are
generated by summing across items for each subscale. Each subscale consists
of four items. Higher scores on the scales indicate a respondents’ tendency to
engage in a particular strategy. Regarding psychometric properties, Carver et al.
(1989) reported adequate internal consistency for each of the subscales, with
Cronbach’s α reliabilities ranging from .45 to .92 for the dispositional version
(Carver et al., 1989). For items added to the inventory after its initial publica-
tion, Carver et al. reported Cronbach’s α coefficients for the substance use and
humor subscales as .93 and .90, respectively, in their dispositional formats.

PROCEDURE

The COPE was administered to participants individually in psychology

laboratories (i.e., office space reserved for data collection) or in classroom
settings. The measure was completed anonymously. All participants received
informed consent and were advised of their right to withdraw from the study
situation without penalty. In responding to COPE items, participants were
instructed to consider strategies that they normally use when they encounter
stressors in their lives both on and off campus. Given that the sample con-
sisted of African American college students, it was anticipated that the con-
texts of their responses to items would include academic stress, as well as
negative race-related experiences within their respective academic environ-
ments (e.g., Greer & Chwalisz, in press; Swim, Hyers, Cohen, Fitzgerald, &
Byslma, 2003). Thus, participants were encouraged to respond to the items in
ways that reflected the totality of their stressful experiences. Participants
received course credit for their participation in the study. In cases in which
participants did not receive course credit, their names were entered into a lot-
tery to receive monetary compensation. The COPE was administered through
paper-pencil format, with an average completion time of 15 to 20 minutes.

LATENT FACTOR MODELS

Carver et al. (1989) proposed that the 15 subscales of the COPE associ-
ated with three latent factors. Specifically, the scale authors proposed that five
subscales captured distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (i.e., planning,
suppression of competing activities, restraint, seeking of instrumental social
support, and active coping); five subscales captured distinct aspects of
emotion-focused coping (i.e., seeking of emotional social support, positive
266 JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2007

reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, and religion), and three subscales cap-

tured strategies that were “less useful” or attempts at disengaging from stress
and problems experienced (i.e., venting of emotions, behavioral disengage-
ment, and mental disengagement). The subscales termed use of alcohol and
humor were later conceptualized as an aspect of disengagement, and an
aspect of emotion-focused coping, respectively (Carver & Scheier, 1994;
Moos & Holahan, 2003).
The application of the Africentric perspective offered by Myers (1988)
resulted in the development of an alternate, four-factor latent structure of the
COPE, with constructs labeled interconnectedness, spirituality, problem-
oriented coping, and disengagement. The latent construct, interconnectedness,
comprised three COPE subscales (i.e., venting of emotions, seeking support
for emotional reasons, and seeking support for instrumental reasons), as the
content of these subscales involve both emotional expression and seeking
assistance from others to address difficulties, which is consistent with Myers’
conceptual framework. The construct termed spirituality was conceptualized
not only as a form of God consciousness (Myers, 1988), but also as relying
and/or seeking assistance from God or a higher power to resolve difficulties
(e.g., Abrums, 2004; Benkert & Peters, 2005). Therefore, the COPE sub-
scales of planning, religion, restraint, and acceptance were expected to cap-
ture aspects of spirituality for this sample. Problem-oriented coping was
conceptualized as specific behaviors and/or attitudes actively engaged in to
focus on problems experienced. The conceptualization of this construct
resembled that of Carver et al. (1989), but was expected to be associated with
positive reinterpretation, active coping, suppression of competing activities,
and humor subscales. The use of humor as a tool in triumphing over difficul-
ties has been studied extensively among African American populations (e.g.,
Campinha-Bacote, 1993; Goldin & Bordan, 1999; Haygood, 2000). The use
of humor as a coping strategy can be a potentially negative response to life
challenges, such as using humor to avoid or minimize the severity of prob-
lems. However, some research evidence suggests that the use of humor
among African Americans is a positive coping mechanism that is also asso-
ciated with problem resolution (e.g., Vereen, Kent Butler, Williams, Darg, &
Downing, 2006). Lastly, African Americans have been found to engage in
efforts that can be considered escapist or avoidant in nature (e.g., Greer &
Chwalisz, in press; Martin, Tuch, & Roman, 2003). Thus, the latent construct
termed disengagement was conceptualized as behaviors and attitudes that are
consistent with what Myers (1988) proposed as emanating from a suboptimal
worldview. The COPE subscales of mental disengagement, denial, behavioral
disengagement, and substance use were expected to capture aspects of this
construct.
 Greer / COPING STRATEGIES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS 267

RESULTS

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), using the maximum likelihood esti-

mation method, was used to test and compare the original latent COPE struc-
ture and the imposed alternate latent structure. CFA was conducted using
LISREL 8.80 (Jöreskog, Sörbom, Du Toit, & Du Toit, 2001) statistical soft-
ware. The indices examined to determine the overall fit of the models to the
data were based on Sun’s (2005) recommendations concerning competing
model comparisons. Sun recommended that investigators consider indices
that are robust to sample size effects, sensitive to model misspecification, and
those that are adjusted for model complexity, particularly for competing
models that yield some differences in indicators. In following these recom-
mendations, fit indices examined in the current study were the standardized
root mean square residual (SRMR), the root mean square error of approxi-
mation (RMSEA), the Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), the comparative fit index
(CFI), and the expected cross-validation index (ECVI). For TLI and CFI
indices, values that are closer to 1 are indicative of acceptable fit (Hu &
Bentler, 1999). Hu and Bentler (1999) further recommended that SRMR val-
ues should be close to or less than .08, and RMSEA values close to or less
than .06, to conclude that there is good fit. The ECVI value is indicative of
the extent to which the model will cross-validate in future studies with simi-
lar populations and sample sizes, if tested in the same fashion. The ECVI is
desirable in evaluating models in which sample size is moderate or low, given
that error increases with smaller sample sizes (Kaplan, 2000). In testing com-
peting models, the one with the lowest ECVI value is the preferred model. To
facilitate future validation studies, chi-square (χ2) values, df, and the χ2/df
ratio were also considered.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

Means and standard deviations of COPE subscales are displayed in Table

1. Turning to religion was the highest subscale mean (M = 12.60) for this
sample, in contrast to the mean reported by Carver et al. (1989) for the same
subscale (M = 8.56) in its dispositional format. Pearson’s r correlations were
performed on the COPE subscales (See Table 2). The results indicated that
the majority of the interrcorrelations among the subscales were not strong,
however, with a few exceptions. Seeking social support for emotional rea-
sons and for instrumental reasons yielded the highest correlation, followed
by moderate correlations between the subscales of planning, active coping,
and suppression of competing activities. These correlational results are con-
sistent with those reported by Carver et al. (1989) in their investigation.
268 JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2007

TABLE 1
Means and Standard Deviations of
COPE Subscales (N = 203)
COPE Subscales M (SD)

Restraint coping 9.54 (2.30)

Positive reinterpretation 12.35 (2.39)
Mental disengagement 9.46 (2.56)
Focus on and venting emotions 9.36 (2.88)
Instrumental social support 10.73 (3.23)
Active coping 9.25 (1.94)
Denial 6.06 (2.15)
Turning to religion 12.60 (3.58)
Humorous coping 8.79 (3.32)
Behavioral disengagement 6.00 (1.87)
Social support (emotional) 10.30 (3.59)
Substance use 5.23 (2.48)
Acceptance 10.16 (2.88)
Suppression of competing activities 9.50 (2.28)
Planning 11.55 (2.77)

NOTE: COPE = Coping with Problems Experienced inventory.

Internal consistency coefficients were calculated for each of the three latent
COPE factors. Cronbach’s α coefficients for each factor were .84 for emotion-
focused coping, .74 for disengagement, and .83 for problem-focused coping.
For the four-factor alternate model, internal consistency coefficients for
interconnectedness, spirituality, problem-oriented coping, and disengage-
ment were .88, .80, .80, and .74, respectively. All of these reliability coeffi-
cients were within acceptable range.

CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS

The original latent structure of the COPE and the alternate latent structure,
along with factor loadings, are displayed in Figures 1 and 2, respectively.
Most notable were the higher factor loadings for the two social support sub-
scales on the interconnectedness latent variable of the alternate model. These
subscales were less associated with specified latent constructs in the original
COPE model. Table 3 provides a summary of the CFA results for this study.
As can be seen in Table 3, chi-square (χ2) values for both models were sig-
nificant. The significant chi-square values would generally indicate that the
models do not fit the data. However, χ2 values are not the most useful in deter-
mining model fit, as these values are a function of sample size (Bentler &
 TABLE 2
Intercorrelations of COPE Subscales
COPE Scales 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

1. Restraint — .34** .16* .02 .14 .29** .13 .19** .19** .05 .17* .03 .28** .47** .32**
2. Positive reinterpretation — .20** .07 .40** .40** .09 .31** .25** −.06 .33** −.06 .39** .40** .54**
3. Mental disengagement — .13 .16* .12 .35** .10 .13 .27** .21** −.06 .13 .16* .08
4. Venting emotions — .34** .20* .11 .09 .10 .08 .46** .14* −.00 .10 .18*
5. Social support (instrumental) — .35** .16* .28** .21** .01 .75** −.11 .08 .23** .42**
6. Active coping — .17* .16* .17* .20* .25** .07 .34** .37** .51**
7. Denial — .08 .13 .40** .13 .18* −.12 .16* −.01
8. Turning to religion — .16* −.03 .30** −.14* .10 .15* .21**
9. Humor — .00 .22* .08 .22* .18* .18*
10. Behavioral disengagement — −.03 .16* .03 −.01 −.15*
11. Social support (emotional) — −.08 .10 .25** .36**
12. Substance use — .08 .04 −.08
13. Acceptance — .26** .26**
14. Suppression of activities — .51**
15. Planning —

NOTE: COPE = Coping With Problems Experienced inventory.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

269
270 JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2007

Denial
.22

Religion .39

Acceptance
.41
Social
.46
Support
(Emotional)
.37 Emotion-
Humor Focused
.75
Positive
0.87
Reinterpretation

Social
Support .56
(Instrumental)
Active
.60 .27
Coping

Planning .74 Problem-

Focused
.58
Suppression
of Activities .49

Restraint

0.16
.99
Mental
Disengage Disengagement
.15
Vent
Emotions
.21
Behavioral
Disengage
.38
Substance
Use

Figure 1: Original Latent Model for COPE Subscales and Factor Loadings
NOTE: Latent constructs are shown in ellipses, and indicator variables are shown in rectangles.
 Greer / COPING STRATEGIES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS 271

Restraint
.46

Religion .30

.43
Spirituality
Acceptance
.71

Planning

.49
Vent Emotions
0.53
.81 Interconnect
Social Support
(Emotional) .92 1.20
Social Support
(Instrumental)

0.11
Active Coping .62

.31
Humor
Problem-
.66 Oriented
Positive
Reinterpretation
.61
Suppression of
Activities

Behavioral 0.30
Disengage .49

Substance .27
Use
Disengagement
.71
Denial
.55
Mental
Disengage

Figure 2: Alternate Africentric Latent Model for COPE Subscales and Factor
Loadings
NOTE: Latent constructs are shown in ellipses, and indicator variables are shown in rectangles.
272 JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2007

TABLE 3
Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Goodness-of-Fit Indices for the
Three-Factor and Four-Factor COPE Latent Models (N = 203)
Model χ2 df p χ2/df RMSEA CFI TLI SRMR ECVI

Three-factor model 154.25 73 < .001 2.11 0.07 (0.05–0.09) .92 .90 .07 1.23
Four-factor model 109.28 80 < .05 1.36 0.04 (0.02–0.06) .97 .96 .06 .94

NOTE: COPE = Coping with Problems Experienced inventory. RMSEA = root mean square
error of approximation (90% confidence interval in parentheses); CFI = comparative fit index;
TLI = Tucker-Lewis index; SRMR = standardized root mean square residual; ECVI = expected
cross-validation index.

Bonnett, 1980). Nevertheless, the alternate, four-factor model yielded the

better fit to the data, based on these statistics, because it had the lowest χ2
value (109.28) and the lowest χ2/df ratio (1.36). Other fit indices, which are
not a function of sample size, further indicate that the four-factor model is the
better fit, as this model had the lowest RMSEA value (.04), the highest CFI
and TLI values (.97 and .96, respectively), the lowest SRMR value (.06), and
the lowest ECVI value (.94). The 90% confidence interval of RMSEA for the
four-factor model ranged from .02 to .06, which is consistent with criteria
regarding acceptable fit for this index (Hu & Bentler, 1999). No post hoc
modifications were conducted because of this model’s overall acceptable fit
to the data.
Although the alternate latent model yielded the best fit to the data, the orig-
inal latent model did not yield a problematic fit either. The model had a sig-
nificantly larger χ2 than the alternate model, with χ2 (73, N = 203) = 154.25,
p < .001. The χ2/df ratio was within acceptable range (2.11), and the CFI, TLI,
SRMR, and ECVI values were also within ranges that would be considered
appropriate. The RMSEA of .07 exceeded the criteria for acceptable fit as pro-
posed by Hu and Bentler (1999). However, the 90% confidence interval of
RMSEA for this model would arguably be considered acceptable by some
researchers at a value as high as .08 (Browne & Cudeck, 1993). No post hoc
modifications were made to this model in light of its reasonable fit to the data.

DISCUSSION

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the latent factor
structure of the COPE inventory (Carver et al., 1989), and to compare this
structure to an imposed, culturally relevant latent structure with a sample of
 Greer / COPING STRATEGIES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS 273

African Americans. The latent structure of the COPE, as proposed by Carver

et al. (1989) comprised three factors with specific strategies conceptualized
as capturing aspects of emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping,
and forms of disengagement or withdrawal. The alternate, latent structure
was derived from an Africentric framework, as well as from empirical find-
ings on coping behaviors of African Americans. The alternate model com-
prised four factors in which specific strategies were conceptualized as
capturing aspects of interconnectedness, spirituality, problem-oriented cop-
ing, and disengagement. A strength of the current investigation was the use of
CFA to test the two competing models. CFA represents a common, yet pow-
erful, research tool that is used by investigators to test a priori conceptualiza-
tions of factor structures and content domains that underlie sets of data. The
ability to test a priori models is an inherent advantage of CFA over
exploratory factor analysis, in addition to the ability to examine a variety of
indices to compare the fit of competing models to data (Jöreskog et al., 2001).
CFA results in the current investigation generally indicated that the alternate
latent structure represented the best overall fit to the data, with the original
latent structure yielding a moderately acceptable fit. These findings hold
implications for researchers using the COPE inventory in their investigations
with African American populations.
Researchers who have used the COPE in studies with African Americans
have commonly combined subscales to create desired composite variables,
instead of using the total number of scales (e.g., Clark, 2004; Danoff-Burg,
Prelow, & Swenson, 2004; Mosher, Prelow, Chen, & Yackel, 2006). In cre-
ating composite variables, researchers report using the original authors’ con-
ceptual framework as a guide in deciding which subscales to combine to
capture broad coping dimensions. The results of the current study suggest
that several of the COPE subscales may only modestly hold their conceptual
integrity when applied to African American populations. For instance,
Carver et al. (1989) proposed that focusing on and venting emotions was a
potentially dysfunctional coping strategy, in that this behavior could impede
engagement in active coping strategies and could possibly prevent moving
beyond distress experienced. However, this strategy was conceptualized as
an aspect of interconnectedness in the alternate model, given that, from an
Africentric perspective and empirical evidence (e.g., Locke, 1992), African
Americans are both emotional and relational, and therefore are likely to not
only vent emotions, but also to express emotions within a relational context.
Also, the venting of emotions subscale yielded a higher loading on the inter-
connectedness latent factor of the alternate model than on the disengagement
or withdrawal latent factor proposed by the scale authors. This finding
suggests that this particular strategy is potentially beneficial to African
274 JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2007

Americans in coping with distress. Also, as previously noted, both the use of
social support for emotional reasons and the use of social support for instru-
mental reasons scales associated better with specified latent constructs in the
alternate model than in the original COPE model. Overall, these results
imply that researchers should be cautious in applying the original authors’
conceptualizations, especially in creating composite variables, as the theo-
retical underpinnings of the COPE strategies are likely to be constrained
when applied to African Americans. Additional research is needed, however,
to determine if the conceptual limitations of the COPE, found in the current
study, would be similar in other studies with African American populations.
The decision to use the COPE in studies with African Americans is an
important one. The results of this investigation suggests that the COPE can be
used in its original form or in an alternate form, such as the approach demon-
strated in this investigation, depending on the investigator’s purpose. The CFA
results of the original latent structure suggests that the measure captures some
aspects of coping strategies employed by African Americans, given its modest
fit to the data. It is quite possible that the COPE yields some degree of etic rel-
evance to African Americans. An early theoretical perspective on the value of
etic and emic approaches was offered by Pike (1967). Although Pike argued
against viewing emic and etic approaches in dichotomous fashion, he yet the-
orized several advantages of the two. The most relevant etic argument offered
by Pike is that an etic approach “is the only point of entry since there is no
other way to begin an analysis than by starting with a rough, tentative (and
inaccurate) etic description of it” (p. 40). In applying Pike’s theoretical per-
spective, using the COPE with African Americans perhaps represents only a
“point of entry,” in that investigators will likely acquire a general assessment
of African Americans’ use of coping strategies, void of cultural specificity. If,
in fact, a general assessment of coping strategies meets the purpose of an
investigator, the results of this study imply that using the COPE in its original
form will likely meet this purpose. Conversely, for investigators desiring to use
the COPE with African Americans while simultaneosly desiring to capture
some cultural aspects of coping efforts, the findings of the current study
clearly imply that this purpose could potentially be met through the imposition
of a culturally relevant structure. The overall good fit of the alternate latent
structure tested in the current investigation implies that an imposed structure,
based on a culturally congruent theoretical framework, could be a beneficial
use of this measure with African American populations.
The results of the current investigation further imply that considerable
improvements are needed within mainstream coping literature, and with
instruments that have been developed based on traditional coping conceptu-
alizations. As previously noted, considerable empirical attention has been
 Greer / COPING STRATEGIES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS 275

given to the study of personality traits and their influence on coping styles,
with personality traits considered primary underlying determinants of indi-
vidual differences in the display of coping efforts (Beutler, Moos, & Lane,
2003). However, there is additional need within mainstream literature to con-
sider the influence of racial and ethnic background, as well as social positions
and societal contexts (e.g., socioeconomic status) as contributors of coping
styles among African Americans. Furthermore, existing coping instruments
that were derived from mainstream coping conceptualizations, such as the
COPE inventory, should be continually subjected to cross-validation with
African American populations and other racial and ethnic groups in effort to
improve the cultural relevancy of these measures.
Although this study contributes to an understanding of the use of the
COPE with African Americans, several limitations should be considered.
First, this study relied on self-report of coping behaviors. To respond to each
COPE item effectively, participants needed to consider coping strategies used
in general. Therefore, their responses represent their best estimate of specific
strategies used in their attempts to endure or alleviate stress experienced.
Second, more than half of the participants in this study were African
American women. Gender differences in the use of coping strategies have
been documented in a number of studies (e.g., Carver et al., 1989), with
results demonstrating that women engage in emotion-focused styles of cop-
ing more than men. Men, on the other hand, have been shown to engage in
more problem-focused styles of coping when compared to women (Ptacek,
Smith, & Dodge, 1994). Among African Americans, research results on
gender differences in coping behaviors have not been consistent. Utsey,
Ponterotto, Reynolds, and Cancelli (2000) reported finding a main effect for
gender among African Americans in response to racial discrimination, with
African American women yielding higher scores on a measure of seeking
social support than men in their study. Thus, the findings in this study are not
fully representative of coping strategies among some African American pop-
ulations, given the overrepresentation of women in this study. Lastly, this
study was conducted with African American college students, which is an
inherent limitation in generalizing the results to community populations of
African Americans.
In spite of these limitations, the findings in this study accentuate the neces-
sity for researchers to ensure that empirical investigations are culturally rele-
vant and appropriate. Although the limited supply of culturally appropriate
measures presents a challenge to researchers, investigators should engage in
additional effort and look to other options, such as the alternative approach
demonstrated in this study, to ensure that the process of empirical examinations
and the results derived are culturally congruent to populations under study.
276 JOURNAL OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY / AUGUST 2007

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