The Brief Approach/Avoidance Coping Questionnaire: Development and validation

The objective of the research was to construct a brief coping questionnaire designed to assess the approach-avoidance dichotomy. A 20-item questionnaire was designed and tested in samples of 206 students and 93 patients. Based on empirical analyses and interviews with patients, 12 items were chosen for the final scale, which was named the Brief Approach/Avoidance Coping Questionnaire (BACQ). BACQ was then tested in a clinical sample of 299 primary care patients. A Cronbach's alpha of 0.68 was found in a primary care sample. In testing concurrent validity, BACQ indexes correlated significantly with relevant COPE sub-scales in a 0.34 to 0.57 range. A factor structure based on a two-factor solution gave one bipolar factor, ranging from active approach to resignation and withdrawal, and a second factor with items indicating diversion. In conclusion, the 12-item BACQ is a brief measure of coping strategies with satisfactory psychometric properties. The instrument is designed to measure a general concept of approach versus avoidance oriented coping, but the findings also point to two sub-dimensions of avoidant coping, resignation/withdrawal and diversion.