A FACTOR REPLICATION APPROACH TO THE MEASUREMENT OF COPING

Contemporary definitions of stress emphasize the transaction between t he individual and the environment. This transactional approach require s stress researchers to confront a range of measurement issues concern ing how the transactional process should be operationalized in a work setting. One of the constructs that has received increased interest is that of coping. How in a work setting coping strategies should be mea sured, and more particularly classified, has resulted in considerable debate and discussion. This research explores the use of factor replic ation techniques, and more specifically FACTOREP, on a checklist of co ping strategies devised for principals and deputy principals. The resu lts suggest that when attempts are made to identify those coping facto rs that can be replicated across samples, there is general support for coping strategies to be classified as either problem-focused or emoti on-focused. The implications of this finding are discussed in terms of the measurement of coping, coping taxonomies and issues such as copin g styles versus coping behaviours and universal versus context-specifi c measurements.