The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Its structure and measurement invariance across 48 countries
The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Its structure and measurement invariance across 48 countries
COVID-19 has been a source of fear around the world. We asked whether the measurement of this fear is trustworthy and comparable across countries. In particular, we explored the measurement invariance and cross-cultural replicability of the widely-used Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S), testing community samples from 48 countries (N = 14,558). The findings indicate that the FCV-19S has a somewhat problematic structure, yet the one-factor solution is replicable across cultural contexts and could be used in studies that compare people who vary on gender and educational level. The validity of the scale is supported by a consistent pattern of positive correlations with perceived stress and general anxiety. However, given the unclear structure of the FCV-19S, we recommend using latent factor scores, instead of raw scores, especially in cross-cultural comparisons.
fear of COVID-19, measurement invariance, cross-cultural studies, coronavirus
1-30
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Sedikides, Constantine
(2021)
The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Its structure and measurement invariance across 48 countries.
Psychological Assessment, .
(doi:10.1037/pas0001102).
(In Press)
Abstract
COVID-19 has been a source of fear around the world. We asked whether the measurement of this fear is trustworthy and comparable across countries. In particular, we explored the measurement invariance and cross-cultural replicability of the widely-used Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S), testing community samples from 48 countries (N = 14,558). The findings indicate that the FCV-19S has a somewhat problematic structure, yet the one-factor solution is replicable across cultural contexts and could be used in studies that compare people who vary on gender and educational level. The validity of the scale is supported by a consistent pattern of positive correlations with perceived stress and general anxiety. However, given the unclear structure of the FCV-19S, we recommend using latent factor scores, instead of raw scores, especially in cross-cultural comparisons.
Text
Sawicki et al., 2021, Psychological Assessment
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 9 November 2021
Keywords:
fear of COVID-19, measurement invariance, cross-cultural studies, coronavirus
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 452828
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/452828
ISSN: 1040-3590
PURE UUID: d654942b-5500-4b1b-9180-7dcec6310f70
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Date deposited: 21 Dec 2021 17:51
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:49
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