Validation of the Stress Coping Strategies Questionnaire in an HIV-seropositive and a general population sample

The goals of this investigation were to study the internal consistency, factor structure and distribution of the Stress Coping Strategies Questionnaire (SCQ; Sandin & Chorot, 2003) in two non-probability samples: HIV-seropositive persons (100 women and 200 men) and general population, paired in size ( n = 300), mean age (37 years old) and sex ratio. Another aim was to contrast differences in coping strategies and styles between both groups. The internal consistency was high in four scales and adequate in all others, except the Positive Reappraisal scale, which was low in its definition reduced to three indicators. The structure of seven correlated factors and two second-order factors was confirmed, reducing the scale to 33 items. Seropositive persons reported using religion and positive reappraisal more frequently than the control group. We suggest the use of the SCQ in these populations and to generate new items for the Positive Reappraisal scale.