Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T07:13:51.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychometric Properties of Farsi Version of the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2016

Ehsan Abdekhodaie ,
Mohammad Arghabaei  and
Hadi Bahrami Ehsan
Ehsan Abdekhodaie*
Affiliation:
University of Tehran (Iran)
Mohammad Arghabaei
Affiliation:
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (Iran)
Hadi Bahrami Ehsan*
Affiliation:
University of Tehran (Iran)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ehsan Abdekhodaie. Faculty of Psychology and Education. University of Tehran. Jalal Al-e-Ahmad Ave. Tehran (Iran). P.O. Box 11455/6456. Phone: +98–9151191332. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Farsi version of the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children (Ollendick, 1983), namely the FSSC-FA, in a sample of Iranian children and adolescents (N = 394, 206 girls) aged 9–11:11 years. The internal consistency coefficient was found to range from .79 to .96 for total and subscale scores. The authors used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to determine the factor structure of the FSSC-FA. The results showed that a 71-item, six-factor model provided a satisfactory fit for the structure of the FSSC-FA (RMSEA = .07, 90% CIs [.068, .072], CFI = .94, NNFI = .94, χ2/df = 2.94). With regard to gender and age differences in fears of the present sample, girls typically reported more fears than boys (Cohen’s d = .28, 95% CIs [.08, .48], p < .001), but differences between older and younger participants were modest. The study also reported most common fears in the sample which were very similar to those reported by other studies except one item being specific to the Iranian population. Bearing in mind the limitations discussed, the results generally show that the FSSC-FA scores are valid and reliable to assess fears in Iranian youth.

Keywords

fear survey schedule for children-revised (fssc-r)Iranconfirmatory factor analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 19 , 2016 , E2
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beidel, D. C., & Alfano, C. A. (2011). Child anxiety disorders: A guide to research and treatment (2 nd Ed.). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.Google Scholar
Bodas, J., & Ollendick, T. H. (2005). Test anxiety: A cross-cultural perspective. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 8(1), 65–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10567-005-2342-x Google Scholar
Bokhorst, C. L., Westenberg, P. M., Oosterlaan, J., & Heyne, D. A. (2008). Changes in social fears across childhood and adolescence: Age-related differences in the factor structure of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22(1), 135–142. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.01.014 Google Scholar
Chapman, H. R., & Kirby-Turner, N. C. (1999). Dental fear in children - A proposed model. British Dental Journal, 187, 408–412. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4800293 Google Scholar
Chen, C., & Stevenson, H. W. (1989). Homework: A cross-cultural examination. Child Development, 60, 551–561. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1130721 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Di Riso, D., Salcuni, S., Chessa, D., & Lis, A. (2010). The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised: Normative developmental data in Italy. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 110, 625–646. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/PMS.110.2.625-646 Google Scholar
Dong, Q., Yang, B., & Ollendick, T. H. (1994). Fears in Chinese children and adolescents and their relations to anxiety and depression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 351–363. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01167.x Google Scholar
Doogan, S., & Thomas, G. V. (1992). Origins of fear of dogs in adults and children: The role of conditioning processes and prior familiarity with dogs. Behavioral Research and Therapy, 30, 387–394. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(92)90050-Q CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerbing, D. W., & Hamilton, J. G. (1996). Viability of exploratory factor analysis as a precursor to confirmatory factor analysis. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 3(1), 62–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10705519609540030 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gullone, E. (2000). The development of normal fear: A century of research. Clinical Psychology Review, 20, 429–451. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7358(99)00034-3 Google Scholar
Gullone, E., & King, N. J. (1992). Psychometric evaluation of a revised fear survey schedule for children and adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 33, 987–998. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1992.tb00920.x Google Scholar
Gullone, E., & King, N. J. (1997). Three-year follow-up of normal fear in children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15(1), 97–111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1997.tb00727.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, C., Bluestein, D. N., & Jenkins, J. M. (2008). Cultural differences in the relationship between parenting and children’s behavior. Developmental Psychology, 44, 507–522. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.2.507 Google Scholar
Kelley, M. L., & Tseng, H.-M. (1992). Cultural differences in child rearing: A comparison of immigrant Chinese and Caucasian American mothers. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 23, 444–455. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022022192234002 Google Scholar
Kendall, P. C., & Treadwell, K. R. H. (2007). The role of self-statements as a mediator in treatment for youth with anxiety disorders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75, 380–389. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.75.3.380 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, N. J., Ollier, K., Iacuone, R., Schuster, S., Bays, K., Gullone, E., & Ollendick, T. H. (1989). Fears of children and adolescents: A cross-sectional Australian study using the Revised-Fear Survey Schedule for Children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30, 775–784. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00789.x Google Scholar
Lansford, J. E., Chang, L., Dodge, K. A., Malone, P. S., Oburu, P., Palmérus, K., ... & Quinn, N. (2005). Physical discipline and children’s adjustment: Cultural normativeness as a moderator. Child development, 76(6), 1234–1246. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00847.x Google Scholar
Li, H., & Prevatt, F. (2008). Fears and related anxieties in Chinese high school students. School Psychology International, 29(1), 89–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0143034307088505 Google Scholar
Mellon, R., Koliadis, E. A., & Paraskevopoulos, T. D. (2004). Normative development of fears in Greece: Self-reports on the Hellenic Fear Survey Schedule for Children. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 18, 233–254. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(03)00011-2 Google Scholar
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Mayer, B., & Prins, E. (2000). How serious are common childhood fears? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 217–228. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(98)00204-6 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muris, P., & Ollendick, T. H. (2002). The assessment of contemporary fears in adolescents using a modified version of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 16, 567–584. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(02)00106-8 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ollendick, T. H. (1983). Reliability and validity of the revised fear survey schedule for children (FSSC-R). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21, 685–692. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(83)90087-6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ollendick, T. H., King, N. J., & Frary, R. B. (1989). Fears in children and adolescents: Reliability and generalizability across gender, age and nationality. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 27(1), 19–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(89)90115-0 Google Scholar
Ollendick, T. H., & March, J. S. (2004). Phobic and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: A clinician’s guide to effective psychosocial and pharmacological interventions. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ollendick, T. H., Yang, B., King, N. J., Dong, Q., & Akande, A. (1996). Fears in American, Australian, Chinese, and Nigerian children and adolescents: A cross-cultural study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 213–220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01393.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Core Team. (2013). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Retrieved from http://www.R-project.org/.Google Scholar
Rosseel, Y. (2012). Lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 2, 1–36.Google Scholar
Serim-Yildiz, B., & Erdur-Baker, O. (2013). Examining the cultural validity of Fear Survey Schedule for Children: The contemporary fears of Turkish children and adolescents. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Research and Theory on Human Development, 174, 345–365. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2012.678420 Google Scholar
Shore, G. N., & Rapport, M. D. (1998). The Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-HI): Ethnocultural variations in children’s fearfulness. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 12, 437–461. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(98)00027-9 Google Scholar
Smith, E. C., Burkle, F. M. Jr., & Archer, F. L. (2011). Fear, familiarity, and the perception of risk: A quantitative analysis of disaster-specific concerns of paramedics. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 5(1), 46–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/dmp.10-v4n2-hre10008 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, M. W. (2006). Determining parallel analysis criteria. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, 5, 344–346.Google Scholar
Weems, C. F., Silverman, W. K., Saavedra, L. M., Pina, A. A., & Lumpkin, P. W. (1999). The discrimination of children’s phobias using the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 941–952. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00511 Google Scholar