Coping Styles test (Brief COPE)
See what each coping style means, how the test is scored, and how a result is read against the population that actually fits you.
Coping is what you actually do when life gets stressful. Charles Carver's Brief COPE captures it across 14 short strategies, which group into three broad styles: tackling the problem, working through the feelings, and pulling away from it. There is no single "right" style - whether a way of coping helps depends on the situation, which is why this page profiles your mix rather than scoring you good or bad.
The model
What it measures
Select a style to see the everyday strategies it draws together. The Brief COPE asks how much you have been using 14 specific ways of coping - from active planning to acceptance to distraction - and those 14 two-item subscales roll up into the three higher-order styles shown here.
Problem-focused coping aims to change the stressor itself; emotion-focused coping works on how you feel about it; and avoidant coping turns attention away from it. Most people use all three to some degree, and the same strategy can help in one situation and backfire in another - avoidance can be a healthy pause from an uncontrollable stressor or an unhelpful escape from one you could act on. Higher on a style means you lean on it more, not that you are coping well or badly.
Acting directly on the stressor - planning, taking steps, and seeking practical help.
- PFProblem-focused
Acting directly on the stressor - planning, taking steps, and seeking practical help.
Facets: Active coping, Planning, Instrumental support, Positive reframing.
- EFEmotion-focused
Working on the feelings the stressor brings up - acceptance, support, humor and reframing.
Facets: Emotional support, Acceptance, Humor, Religion / meaning.
- AVAvoidant
Turning attention away from the stressor - distraction, denial, disengagement and self-blame.
Facets: Self-distraction, Denial, Behavioral disengagement, Self-blame.
The evidence
Science and validity
The Brief COPE is one of the default coping measures in health and clinical psychology, derived from Carver's longer COPE inventory and grounded in the transactional model of stress and coping. Its 14 strategies are commonly grouped into two to four higher-order factors; the three-style problem-focused, emotion-focused and avoidant grouping used here is among the most widely reported. Because each subscale has only two items, individual subscales are modest in reliability, but the higher-order composites are more dependable, and avoidant coping in particular is fairly consistently linked with poorer adjustment across many studies.
You rate 28 statements on a 4-point scale from "I haven't been doing this at all" to "I've been doing this a lot." There are no reverse-keyed items; each strategy is the sum or mean of its two items, and strategies roll up into the broader styles. Carver deliberately did not publish fixed norms - he recommends comparing within your own sample or situation - so there are no clinical cut-offs, and a result is best read as a profile of your coping mix rather than a verdict.
Where you stand
How a score becomes a percentile
A raw score only means something against a comparison group, and coping scores are read as a profile rather than a single level. For example, on the 1-4 metric a problem-focused score of 3.2 sits above the average for adult reference data (where the mean is near 2.8), placing it around the 70th percentile - more frequent active problem-solving than roughly seven in ten adults. Drag the slider to see how a score on each style maps to a percentile; your real result is matched to the population that fits you when you take the test.
Your result, visualised across every dimension
Take the test once and see a full profile like this example, each dimension placed against the population most relevant to you, with plain-language interpretation.
See my full profile →Example profile shown for illustration.
The reference data
Benchmarked against the population that fits you
We benchmark your result against the population that actually resembles you, across 8 reference groups.
Each reference group is used as its own benchmark, not to rank one country against another.
How it works
What the questions feel like
Illustrative statements showing the style of the items. These are examples, not the official scored items.
I have been making a plan and taking steps to deal with the situation.
Illustrative example in the style of the scale, not an official scored item.
I have been getting comfort and understanding from someone.
Illustrative example, not an official scored item.
I have been keeping busy so I think about it less.
Illustrative example, not an official scored item.
I have been trying to accept the reality of what has happened.
Illustrative example, not an official scored item.
Honest strengths and limitations
Strengths
- A short, free, broadly validated measure that is the default coping inventory in health and clinical psychology.
- Covers a wide range of real coping behaviours - from active planning to acceptance to distraction - rolled into three interpretable styles.
- Honest by design: it profiles how you cope rather than scoring you as coping well or badly.
Limitations
- Each of the 14 strategies has only two items, so individual subscales are imprecise; the three higher-order styles are the more reliable read.
- There is no single official factor structure - Carver advises comparing within your own situation rather than against fixed norms, so percentiles are a rough guide.
- Coping is context-dependent: the same strategy can be adaptive in one situation and unhelpful in another, so a high score on any style is not in itself good or bad.
See your full profile
A complete report, matched to the population that fits you, with plain-language interpretation of every trait.
Frequently asked questions
What does a coping styles test measure?
It measures how you tend to deal with stress. The Brief COPE asks about 14 specific coping strategies, which group into three broad styles: problem-focused (acting on the stressor), emotion-focused (working through the feelings) and avoidant (turning attention away from it).
Which coping style is best?
There is no single best style - it depends on the situation. Problem-focused coping helps most when you can change the stressor; emotion-focused coping helps when you mainly need to manage how you feel; and even avoidance can be a healthy pause from something uncontrollable, though it tends to backfire when used to escape a problem you could act on.
How is the Brief COPE scored?
You rate 28 statements on a 4-point frequency scale. Each of the 14 two-item strategies is scored from its two items, and strategies roll up into the three higher-order styles. There are no reverse-keyed items and no clinical cut-offs; the result is read as a profile against a comparison group.
How long does it take?
About five minutes - 28 short statements on a 4-point scale.
Related tests
- Carver, C. S. (1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol's too long: Consider the Brief COPE. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(1), 92-100.
- Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(2), 267-283.
- Solberg, M. A., Gridley, M. K., & Peters, R. M. (2022). The factor structure of the Brief COPE: A systematic review. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 44(6), 612-627.
The Brief COPE and the COPE inventory are the work of Charles S. Carver and colleagues (1989, 1997) and are free for research and teaching with attribution. This independent informational page describes the instrument.