Development and validation of the Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale

The accurate assessment of nicotine withdrawal is important theoretically and clinically. A 28-item scale, the Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale, was developed that contains 7 reliable subscales tapping the major symptom elements of the nicotine withdrawal syndrome. Coefficients alpha for the subscales range from .75 to .93. This scale is sensitive to smoking withdrawal, is predictive of smoking cessation outcomes, and yields data that conform to a 7-factor structure. The 7 scales predicted intratreatment smoking, chi(2) (7, N= 163) = 15.19, p = .034. Moreover, the questionnaire is sufficiently brief so that it can be used in both clinical and research contexts.