Psychometric Properties of the Brief COPE Among Sexual Minority Adults.

Background: The Brief COPE is a widely used coping instrument, but there is a paucity of research regarding its ability to measure coping among sexual minority (SM) persons.

Objective: This study determined the psychometric properties of the Brief COPE and identified coping domains among a sample of SM individuals.

Methods: An online survey was conducted with 530 SM persons in the United States. Participants completed the dispositional version of the Brief COPE. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) determined construct validity. Cronbach's alpha examined the reliability of resulting domains. Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was employed to identify coping domains and criterion-related validity was assessed by examining the relationship of the domains with substance use measures (alcohol, cannabis, and drug use).

Results: CFA replicated the original 14-factor structure. ESEM identified 3 second-order domains with acceptable fit (chi-square [χ] = 905.81; degrees of freedom [d] = 334,  < .001; comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.90; root mean square error of approximation = 0.06; 90% confidence interval = 0.05-0.06; and standardized root mean residual = 0.08). The 3 second-order domains demonstrated good reliability: adaptive (ω = 0.84), support (ω = 0.85), and disengaged coping (ω = 0.84). Disengaged coping exhibited the strongest correlations with substance use outcomes.

Conclusions: Findings provide evidence to support the reliability and validity of the Brief COPE and validates its use with SM persons.