Wisconsin Withdrawal Scale (WSWS)

The Wisconsin Withdrawal Scale (WSWS) contains 7 factors: Anger, Anxiety, Sadness, Concentration, Craving, Sleep, and Hunger.  Post-quit alpha coefficients for the whole scale range from .90-.91 and the factors ranged from .75-.93. 

Item Coding

The WSWS consists of 28 items that are rated on a 5-point Likert scale as follows:

 

Strongly Disagree

 

 

 

Strongly Agree

0

1

2

3

4

 

Scales

The WSWS yields 7 primary scales.  Description of the scales and item loadings are listed below.  Scale scores are calculated as the sum of respective items.  No items are reverse scored.

 

Scale Name (Abbr.)

Description

Item loadings

Anger

 

 

Anxiety

 

 

Sadness

 

 

Concentration

 

 

Craving

 

 

Sleepy

 

 

Hunger

 

 

 

Resource Files

References

Welsch, S.K., Smith, S.S., Wetter, D.W., Jorenby, D.E., Fiore, M.C., Baker, T.B. (1999).  Development and validation of the Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale.  Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 7, 4, pp. 354-361.

Created by Jacky Diaz

Updated 4-12-02