The development and structural confirmation of the rhode island stress andcoping inventory

A new measure, the Rhode Island Stress and Coping Inventory (RISCI), was de veloped to examine perceived stress and coping independent of specific stre ss situations. An adult sample (N = 466) was randomly divided into equal ha lves for developmental and confirmatory instrument development. Initial ins trument development used principal components analysis, item analysis, and a measure of internal consistency (Coefficient alpha). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed on the confirmatory sample to examine the struc ture of the refined item set. Several CFA fit indices indicated excellent f it for a model that represents perceived stress and coping as two moderatel y correlated dimensions. Validity analyses found strong relationships in th e expected directions for both RISCI subscales with the 5-item Mental Healt h Inventory. Further validity analyses supported the utility of the RISCI i n applied research with smokers and confirmed past research findings that s uccessful quitters experience less perceived stress and cope better than re lapsers.