The Coping Self-Efficacy Scale: Psychometric properties in an outpatient sample of active duty military personnel

ABSTRACT

Active duty military service members endure a unique constellation of stressors while deployed or at home. Yet, assessment of protective factors against these stressors among active duty service members represents an under studied area. The present study advances the assessment of protective factors through the psychometric evaluation of the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES) in a clinical sample of military service members in mental health or substance abuse treatment (n = 200). Cross-sectional data were drawn from military medical records and a supplemental self-report questionnaire. Data extracted included demographic (e.g., sex, age), military characteristics (e.g., rank, years in service), physical health and mental health (e.g., anxiety, depression), and coping self-efficacy. Findings suggest a 3-factor (i.e., problem-focused coping, thought-stopping, and getting social support) CSES structure with acceptable internal consistency. Further, there were small-to-moderate associations with physical and mental health outcomes, providing evidence of construct validity. There were few significant associations with military-related characteristics. Finally, controlling for covariates, thought-stopping beliefs explained unique variance in suicide-related behaviors. Together, findings support the use of the CSES to measure coping-related beliefs in military service members. Recommendations are offered for future research and practice with active duty service members.

KEYWORDS:

• Coping self-efficacy
• suicide
• military
• mental health
• factor analysis

Copyright statement

Two of the authors are military service members. This work was prepared as part of their official duties. Title 17 U.S.C. 105 provides that “Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government.” Title 17 U.S.C. 101 defines a United States Government work as a work prepared by a military service member or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this article reflect the results of research conducted by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, or the United States Government.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

IRB approval statement

The study protocol was approved by the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Institutional Review Board in compliance with all applicable Federal regulations governing the protection of human subjects. Research data derived from an approved Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia IRB, protocol; number NMCP.2017.0021.

Data availability statement

Data are not publicly available due to United States Naval regulations.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Navy Surgeon General Clinical Investigation Program funds.