Hwa Soon Kim,Eun Ji Seo, Mi-Ae You, Chun-Ja Kim

College of Nursing⋅Research Institute of Nursing Science, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea


Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire-Korean (WCQ-K) among college students.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was employed to validate psychometrics properties of the WCQ-K among 248 students from a university-affiliated health-care center in Suwon, Korea. Structured questionnaires were used for psychometric evaluation. Item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and known-groups validity were performed for validity. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were used for reliability.
Results: A seven-factor model with 36 items explained 50.8% of the variance. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.90; the ICC for 2-weeks test-retest reliability was 0.80. Students with stable ways of coping tended to have a lower score on the perceived stress and depressive symptoms than their counterparts (all P<0.05).
Conclusions: The findings of this study provide evidence for the adequate psychometric properties of the WCQ-K. The WCQ-K may be used in school or clinical settings to examine the potential role of stress-coping strategies in enhanced stress management among Korean college students.