The initial form of the Coping with Death Scale consisted of 30 items designed to obtain responses arranged along a seven-point Likert-type scale. Each item on the scale was derived from personal responses of students who completed a death and dying seminar. The items appeared to fall into two categories: coping with self and coping with others. In conducting the refinement of the scale, it was administered to 100 college students selected at random. Results were factor analyzed, and four dimensions of coping ability emerged: Relating to Others About Death, Preparedness for One's Own Death, Coping with Personal Losses, and Knowledge of Funeral Arrangements. On the basis of the loading scores, five of the original 30 items were eliminated. The refined instrument consists of 25 items, scored on a five-point Likert scale, arranged around the four factors. The reliability was calculated as .88 using the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula. (BW)