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ABSTRACT
Research suggests that coping deficits play an important role in understanding offender behavior. The present study examines the use of the Brief COPE among a sample of 377 federally incarcerated Canada inmates. Using principal axis factor analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis, an eight factor structure was supported: (1) Support Seeking (α =.86); (2) Acceptance (α =.76); (3) Disengagement (α =.75); (4) Active Coping (α =.64); (5) Substance Use (α =.90); (6) Humor (α =.78); (7) Religion (α =.84); and (8) Self-Blame (α =.77). Factors were comprised of two to four items, with five that did not load onto any factor. Findings indicate that the Brief COPE constitutes a short, accessible, and validated measure of coping styles that is suitable for use with offender populations.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Data were collected for large-scale national studies on self-injurious behavior in federal offenders (see Power, Citation2011; Power & Beaudette, Citation2014; Power & Usher, Citation2011 for more information). The current study used only a portion of the data collected.
2. Typically polychoric correlations are favored over Pearson correlations when ordinal data are analyzed, yet polychoric estimates rely upon the assumption that ordinal variables are a product of bivariate normal distributions. Since histogram inspections revealed non-normal distributions, Pearson’s correlations were preferred (Baglin, Citation2014).
3. A path diagram of the final confirmatory factor model was also estimated but omitted from the manuscript due to space limitations. This diagram is available upon request.