Psychometric Properties of the Turkish Version of the Dark Future Scale

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Dark Future Scale that measures future anxiety. Methods: The sample consisted of 478 university students aged 18-25 and used convenience sampling. They completed an online survey about sociodemographics, tobacco use, and life satisfaction, Dark Future Scale and Trait Anxiety Inventory-2 Trait Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach alpha values were used to test scale’s structural validity and reliability. For convergent validity, we correlated the Turkish version of the Dark Future Scale with trait anxiety and examined the mean differences in smoking status and its association with life satisfaction. Results: Majority of the participants were female (73.6%), with a mean age of 21.5 (SD = 1.67). Majority (53.6%) were regular tobacco users. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis revealed a 1-factor solution to be most optimal ( χ 2 = 17.091, df = 4, P = .002, χ 2 /df = 4.3, and root-mean-square error = 0.083, comparative fit index = 0.988, general fit index = 0.986, The Adjusted Goodness of Fit (AGFI) = 0.986, normalized fit index = 0.985). The alpha value for the scale reliability was 0.86. Turkish version of the Dark Future Scale was also significantly and positively correlated with trait anxiety ( r (478) = .67, P <.01). Exploration of the association between smoking status and Turkish version of the Dark Future Scale showed that the mean score was significantly higher among smokers (M = 19.1, SD = 6.65) than nonsmokers (M = 17.7, SD = 7.69). Lastly, higher future anxiety was associated with lower life satisfaction ( r (478) = -0.42, P < .01). Conclusion: Turkish version of the Dark Future Scale is a reliable and valid scale to measure future anxiety. A brief and easy to apply, reliable, and valid future anxiety measure may be useful for many researchers in psychology and psychiatry.

The moderating effect of psychological distress in the association between temperaments and dark future among young adults

“…Also, irritability, a central element of the irritable temperament, is potentially maintaining factor for psychological distress, including anxiety [ 39 ]. It can be assumed that the effect of irritable temperament is more severe on anticipating dark future events to happen when there is psychological distress, especially anxiety, which is directly related to and overlapping with future anxiety [ 40 ]. Meanwhile, Akiskal argued that anxiety could be a type of anxious temperament that was linked to depression [ 17 ], as previously mentioned.…”

Commentary: Psychometric Properties of the Turkish Version of the Dark Future Scale

“…However, when compared to the 29-item scale, this new brief scale with 5-item is more easy and efficient to use, especially when it will likely be used in a battery of study instruments. The acceptable psychometric properties of DFS-TR demonstrated in Yakin et al’s study 1 further supported its usefulness and appropriateness to assess young adults’ negative perceptions and uncertainties to their own distant future.…”

“…Moreover, satisfactory reliabilities were also suggested, with the internal consistency, split-half reliability and 45-day test-retest reliability of 0.71, 0.64 and 0.70, respectively. While Yakin et al’s validation study 1 in this published article remained focusing on a small sample of general population, more research on specific community/illness groups can extend the applicability of FA measurement in diverse health/illness conditions.…”

“…It is a valuable opportunity to write up this commentary for the article by Yakin et al 1 entitled “Psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Dark Future Scale”. In Yakin et al’s article, the authors translated the Dark Future Scale (DFS) into Turkish language (termed DFS-TR) for assessing people’s future anxiety (FA), and then validated the DFS-TR among 478 young adults aged 18-25 years at four private universities.…”

“…As mentioned by Yakin et al, an individual’s current behavior could likely be influenced by the past life events that most research have primarily focused on, but it might also be impacted by how the future to be perceived. 1 According to Zaleski, FA is defined as a subjective state of apprehension, uncertainty, worry, and fear induced by the unfavorable personal changes in the coming future. 2 Distinguished from other similar concepts (e.g., fear, worry and/or future time perspective), FA is primarily featured by 1) its ‘negative’ perspective towards own personal future; 2) indicating one aspect of mental status in response to an aversive situation in a distant future; and 3) a cognitive (e.g., thoughts, associations and fantasies) rather than an emotional character.…”