The fear of COVID-19 scale: psychometric properties and measurement invariance across a ten-month period

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Hou, X., Hu, N., Hu, T., Shen, R. and Griffiths, M.D. ORCID: 0000-0001-8880-6524, 2024. The fear of COVID-19 scale: psychometric properties and measurement invariance across a ten-month period. Death Studies. ISSN 0748-1187 (Forthcoming)

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Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to various negative consequences including fear. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) was developed to assess COVID-19-related fear and has been widely translated and used in diverse cultures, but no study has investigated its longitudinal measurement invariance and predictive validity. Therefore, we examined its longitudinal measurement invariance and predictive validity over 10 months. A sample of Chinese college students (N = 682; first wave 842; second wave 682) completed the FCV-19S as well as measures of depression, anxiety, and stress, and the data were performed via exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The results showed that the bifactor model fitted well, and significantly predicted stress and anxiety, but not depression. The FCV-19S demonstrated partial measurement invariance (i.e., configural and metric invariances) across time. These findings suggest that the Chinese version of FCV-19S is a reliable tool and could be used in evaluating the severity of fear of COVID-19 among Chinese young adults.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Death Studies

Creators:

Hou, X., Hu, N., Hu, T., Shen, R. and Griffiths, M.D.

Publisher:

Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

Date:

7 March 2024

ISSN:

0748-1187