Finally, a coping with stress variable (COPE) was generated from scores of 1 (almost never) to 4 (almost always) for each of six items on the Drinking to Cope Scale, an instrument with good validities, reliabilities, and Cronbach α (Beseler et al., 2008; Cooper et al., 1988). Scores for each item were placed into three parcels of two items each that were used as indicators for the latent variable.
