The Ways of Coping Scale

Abstract

For more than 20 years, the Ways of Coping Scale (WOCS) has been used extensively to measure coping. Yet beyond the original psychometric data, few studies have reexamined its properties utilizing the enormous body of research generated on the WOCS. Reliability has been assumed to be consistent as an attribute of the test. This study used reliability generalization to identify (a) the variability in reliability estimates for the WOCS scores across studies, (b) the typical score reliability for the WOCS, and (c) the salient features across studies that relate to the variability in reliability estimate scores for the WOCS. Typical reliability across subscale scores ranged from .60 to .75 with Positive Reappraisal showing the least variability and Self-Controlling showing the most. Factors related to this variability were age and format of administration.