APA Dictionary of Psychology

a 36-item self-report inventory that measures the extent to which adults and adolescents consciously use cognitive coping strategies to manage emotions associated with negative life events. On a 5-point Likert scale ranging from almost never to almost always, participants rate statements that reflect one of nine different cognitive coping strategies (e.g., positive reappraisal, self-blame, rumination). The CERQ is utilized both in research to study relationships between cognitive processes and mental health and in clinical diagnosis to identify individuals with unusual patterns of strategy use that may be indicative of depression and other pathology. A simplified version of the measure for children ages 9 to 11 years (CERQ–k) and an abbreviated 18-item adult version (CERQ–short) also exist. [developed in 2001 by Dutch psychologists Nadia Garnefski, Vivian Kraaij, and Philip Spinhoven (1954–  )]