focusing on the positive, self-blame, tension reduction, and keep to self ( Folkman & Lazarus, 1985 ). In a commu-
nity sample of married couples, the scales were planful problem solving, positive reappraisal, escape /C0avoidance,
seeking social support, accepting responsibility, self-controlling, distancing, and confrontive coping ( Folkman,
Lazarus, Dunkel-Schetter, Delongis, & Gruen, 1986 ). The latter set is reported as the definitive set of subscales in
the WCQ manual ( Folkman & Lazarus, 1988 ).
Vitaliano et al. (1985) published a shorter, updated version of the scale called the Ways of Coping Checklist /C0
Revised (WCC-R). The scale comprised 42 items with five subscales: Problem-focused, seeks social support,
blamed self, wishful thinking, and avoidance.
Sample
The WCQ was first tested in a sample of 108 undergraduate students about to undergo a college examination
(Folkman & Lazarus, 1985 ). The means and standard deviations for each scale are contained below ( Folkman &
Lazarus, 1988 ).
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR WCQ SUBSCALES
MS D
1.Confrontive coping 3.94 2.09
2.Distancing 3.05 1.78
3.Self-controlling 5.77 2.87
4.Seeking social support 5.40 2.40
5.Accepting responsibility 1.87 1.44
6.Escape /C0Avoidance 3.18 2.48
7.Planful problem solving 7.25 2.34
8.Positive reappraisal 3.48 2.96
The WCC-R was first tested among a sample of 425 medical students ( Vitaliano et al., 1985 ). The means and
standard deviations for each scale are shown below.
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR WAYS OF COPING
CHECKLIST /C0REVISED SUBSCALES
MS D
1.Problem-focused 24.70 8.37
2.Wishful thinking 12.72 5.92
3.Seeks social support 8.87 3.69
4.Blamed self 4.35 2.48
5.Avoidance 12.82 5.37
Reliability
Internal Consistency
The WCQ coping scales exhibited Cronbach alpha coefficients ranging from .61 (distancing) to .79 (positive
reappraisal). The WCC-R scales overall exhibited slightly higher alpha coefficients ranging from .74 (avoidance)
to .88 (problem-focused).341 STATE COPING MEASURES
III. EMOTION REGULATION