Facing up to a new way of coping : development and psychometric evaluation of a scale to measure engagement in coping strategies facilitated by Facebook

The increasing prominence of social networking site (SNS) use has led to the identification that people may use such sites to cope with stress. However, to date, no measure has been developed to assess coping in a SNS context. This study aimed to develop a scale to measure engagement in coping strategies facilitated by Facebook and to evaluate its psychometric properties. Participants (N=315) were Facebook users who completed an online questionnaire consisting of 48 items depicting ways of coping via Facebook and additional measures for validity evaluation. Exploratory factor analysis revealed eight Facebook-facilitated coping strategies: Cognitive Coping, Organisation, Spiritual Coping, Information Seeking, Social Support Seeking, Connecting, Disengagement and Venting. Internal consistency, temporal reliability and discriminant validity of the scale were good. Evidence for the scale's convergent validity was mixed. Whilst maladaptive strategies correlated appropriately with other variables, some adaptive strategies did not. Although preliminary, findings suggested that coping via Facebook may have different implications for psychological wellbeing than offline coping. Specifically, Facebook-facilitated coping may encourage disengagement from a stressor, or may not meet the needs of stressed individuals. This study indicates that Facebook facilitates coping, highlighting that coping research, theory and intervention should consider how individuals cope through this medium.