Gender implications of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale in the Spanish population: A validation study.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) for the general Spanish population. Method: A cross-sectional investigation was carried out in several stages. Participants (N = 699) between the ages of 18 and 73 (M = 27.79; SD = 12.68) completed both the FCV-19S and the Hospital, Anxiety, and Depression Scale (HADS). We performed descriptive, exploratory factorial (n = 349), confirmatory (n = 350), and scale reliability analyses. Results: The results confirmed the factor structure of the original scale as well as the scale’s goodness-of-fit indices and good internal consistency (α = .91, ω = .98). The correlations between the Spanish FCV-19S and the HADS support the scale’s validity, especially for the subdimension of anxiety. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the FCV-19S appears to be a valid measure for the assessment of fear in an adult population. The present study moves research forward by providing a confirmatory analysis of the gender variable’s influence on the factor analysis. The FCV-19S-Spanish provides a valid brief measure to evaluate fear of being infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The results also revealed that fear was higher among women than among men, which is important as it suggests that more attention needs to be paid to assessing and treating women’s fear. Assessing and treating fear represents an important step for the prevention of future mental health problems.

Psychometric Evaluation of a Fear of COVID-19 Scale in China: Cross-sectional Study

“…It was hypothesized that an absolute value Pearson correlation coefficient of at least 0.3 was required [ 30 ]. To evaluate the known group validity, independent t tests were used to compare the mean score of the Fear Scale between (1) people recruited from mainland China and people recruited from Hong Kong [ 31 ]; (2) people aged 18-59 years and people aged 60 years or older [ 15 ]; and (3) male and female participants [ 32 ]. A study among Chinese university students reported that students in mainland China had lower fear of instability related to the COVID-19 pandemic when compared with students in Hong Kong [ 31 ].…”

“…A study in Singapore found that older age was associated with greater fear of COVID-19 [ 15 ]. Another study in the Spanish population found that fear was higher among women than among men [ 32 ]. Besides, a study in Turkey reported that the COVID-19 fear scores were higher among people with a chronic disease [ 34 ].…”

Emotional health assessment related to COVID‐19 in older people: A cross‐sectional study

“…These findings are consistent with previous results which, in general, attribute to the female sex higher levels of activation (in terms of anxiety) in interaction with the environment, as reflected in systematically higher scores on the neuroticism factor, reported in studies such as the one by Mazza et al ( 2021 ), who find that higher levels of neuroticism in mothers, among other factors, are predictors of higher levels of parental stress in the COVID‐19 confinement situation (Mazza et al, 2021 ). Likewise, the results of studies of anxiety (Allande‐Cussó et al, 2021 ; Rettie & Jo, 2021 ), fear (Sánchez‐Teruel et al, 2021 ) or general psychological distress (GHQ) (Li et al, 2020 ; Pierce et al, 2020 ) in relation to the pandemic also tend to indicate higher values in females than in males.…”

“…It consists of 12 items with four response options, and each item can be scored from 0 to 3 points, giving a total score ranging from 0 to 36. This instrument was duly validated in the Spanish population with a Cronbach's α value of 0.86 (Rocha et al, 2011 ; Sánchez‐Teruel et al, 2021 ). The cut‐off point established for the general population was 12, where subjects with scores higher than or equal to 12 being considered a potential case of psychiatric morbidity (Rocha et al, 2011 ).…”

“…As for situations of confinement, several studies suggest that it is related to negative effects on the mental health of the population, detecting an increase in the levels of anxiety and fear, especially in women (Rettie & Jo, 2021 ; Rodríguez‐Domínguez et al, 2021 ; Sánchez‐Teruel et al, 2021 ). To these effects, periods of enforced quarantine to contain the spread of the virus must be added (Ministerio de la Presidencia, 2020 ).…”