A theory-based measure of coping strategies used by teachers: The problems in teaching scale

The Problems in Teaching Scale (PITS) was developed to assess the strategies used by teachers to cope with school stressors. The measure was developed based on the theory of Lazarus and Folkman [Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer] which emphasizes a coping process in which individuals appraise potential stressors and based on these appraisals develop adaptive and/or maladaptive coping strategies to deal with them. A study with 105 middle, junior high, and senior high school teachers was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PITS. Teachers indicated how they coped with three types of stressors: a serious student problem, a serious problem with an administrator or teacher; and typical problems with preparing for class. Factor analytical results suggested that three dimensions underlie the PITS and that these dimensions tend to generalize across the three types of stressors. In addition, consistent with the coping theory, the pattern of means for the PITS varied as a function of the type of stressor. These and other results generally supported the use of the PITS to assess the coping strategies of teachers.