Wilderness Courage Scale (WCS)

Abstract

This article presents a new toolthe Wilderness Courage Scale. The Wilderness Courage Scale is a scale that diagnoses undertaking activity in dangerous natural environments, despite personal fears. The validity of the Wilderness Courage Scale was tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The results of factor analyses verified the one-factor structure. The questionnaires internal consistency and intercorrelations were also tested. The Wilderness Courage Scale correlates with sensation seeking, some personality traits, and coping forms. The author discusses the findings in regard to the Wilderness Courage Scale as an instrument to measure exploration of dangerous natural environments. However, further studies need to be carried out in other sample groups to further validate the scale.