Stress is a universal part of life, but how we cope with it can make all the difference. Are you curious about your own coping strategies? This test, grounded in leading psychological theories of stress and coping, offers you a unique opportunity to discover how you respond to life’s challenges. Whether you’re seeking personal insight, academic understanding, or professional development, this test will help you explore the ways you manage stress and adversity.

Why Take This Test?

• Gain Self-Awareness: Understand your personal coping style—do you tackle problems directly, seek support, express your emotions, or use other strategies?
• Evidence-Based Results: The test is built on established psychological research, ensuring your results are both meaningful and reliable.
• Personal Growth: By identifying your strengths and areas for improvement, you can make informed choices to enhance your well-being and resilience.
• Accessible and Inclusive: Available in both English and Dutch, this test is designed for a wide audience, making it easy for anyone to participate.

Who Should Take This Test?

• Anyone interested in psychology or personal development
• Students and professionals seeking to understand their stress responses
• Individuals considering career or educational choices
• People currently facing stressful situations and wanting to learn more about their coping mechanisms
• Anyone who wants to compare their coping style with others or track changes over time

What to Expect

You’ll answer a series of questions about your background and how you typically respond to stress. The test covers a range of coping strategies, including:

• Active Coping
• Planning
• Emotional Support Seeking
• Instrumental Support Seeking
• Emotional Expression
• Avoidance
• Self-Soothing

The questionnaire is straightforward and takes only a short time to complete. After finishing, you’ll receive a personalized overview of your dominant coping styles, along with insights you can use for self-reflection and growth.

Are you ready to discover your unique approach to stress and unlock new paths to resilience? Take the test today—available in both English and Dutch!

Test background 

This stress or problem coping list is based on the theories as described in this URL :

https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/15-2-stress-and-coping/

This test intends to measure reponses to “problems” occuring in a persons life and how someone copes with it, the coping style. The test has 49 items and takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. 

The three phases as mentioned in the article are further broken down in the following scales which are focussed on how a person behaves when coping with problems. The effect of problems on a persons health or otherwise are not measured with this test. The scales are fairly self explanatory and can be easily correlated to the items. The items have been formulated in such a way that they should have a high correlation to the scales. 

• Planning; Cognitive preparation and strategy development
• Emotional Support Seeking; Seeking comfort and understanding
• Instrumental Support Seeking; Seeking advice, information, or practical help
• Emotional Expression; Communicating or releasing emotions
• Avoidance; Withdrawing or delaying engagement
• Self‑Soothing; Calming oneself through routines or self‑care

This test has no norms and that is intentional. The test gives scores on the scales. The highest scoring scales are the most dominant way of coping with problems. 

Click on one of the links below to start this test in the language of your choice. 

You can also copy one of these URLs in an e-mail to a candidate. When the candidate has finished the test a URL is presented that they can forward to a consultant. The consultant can then review the test results with this URL. 

Before you start

By starting this test, you confirm that:

• You are 16 years of age or older, or you have permission from a parent or legal guardian
• You understand that this test is experimental and educational, and not a medical, clinical, or diagnostic instrument
• You understand that results must not be used as the sole basis for medical, educational, employment, or life decisions
• You consent to the processing of your test responses as described in our Privacy Notice, including the use of aggregated or pseudonymized data for research and quality improvement

If you do not agree with these conditions, please do not proceed with the test.

PCS test in English

PCS test in Dutch / Nederlands