Psychometric Evaluation of the Child and Parent Versions of the Coping Questionnaire

The Coping Questionnaire (CQ)—child and parent version—is an idiographic measure of youth’s perceived ability to cope in anxiety provoking situations. Participants ( N = 442; aged 7–17) met DSM-IV criteria for separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or social anxiety disorder. The internal consistency of the CQ was supported, and retest reliability and parent/child agreement were, as expected, modest. The CQ scores were significantly correlated in the expected direction with measures of anxiety symptoms and functioning, providing evidence of convergent and divergent validity. The criterion validity of the CQ also was supported: the CQ scores were significantly correlated with the clinical severity rating of the youth’s principal diagnosis on ADIS. There was a significant correlation between change in CQ scores and in anxiety severity and symptoms following treatment. Results support the CQ as a measure to assess coping efficacy in anxious youths as part of evidence-based assessment.