A new measure, the Rhode Island Stress and Coping Inventory (RISCI), was developed to examine perceived stress and coping independent of specific stress situations. An adult sample (N = 466) was randomly divided into equal halves for developmental and confirmatory instrument development. Initial instrument development used principal components analysis, item analysis, and a measure of internal consistency (Coefficient alpha). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed on the confirmatory sample to examine the structure of the refined item set. Several CFA fit indices indicated excellent fit for a model that represents perceived stress and coping as two moderately correlated dimensions. Validity analyses found strong relationships in the expected directions for both RISCI subscales with the 5-item Mental Health Inventory. Further validity analyses supported the utility of the RISCI in applied research with smokers and confirmed past research findings that successful quitters experience less perceived stress and cope better than relapsers.