Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Japanese Version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale Among Adolescents

Abstract

In the context of the global outbreak of COVID-19, there is an urgent need to explore the effects of this pandemic on the mental health of adolescents. The present study aims to adapt and validate a Japanese-version Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) with a sample of adolescent students from Japan. To this end, the Japanese-version FCV-19S, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ-A), and Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale (PVDS) were administered to a sample of Japanese adolescents in schools. The results of statistical analyses revealed that the Japanese-version FCV-19S has a bi-factor model consisting of the emotional response factor and the physiological response factor, with high reliability (emotional: α = .71; physiological: α = .82). Constructive validity was shown by the significant positive correlation between the GAD-7 and emotional (r = .11) and physiological response (r = .25), between PHQ-A and physiological response (r = .19), and between both factors and the PVDS subscale (rs > .16). Taken together, these results indicate that the Japanese-version FCV-19S has a high internal consistency and a moderately good construct validity.

Fear of COVID-19 scale: Validity, reliability and factorial invariance in Argentina’s general population

“…Note: k: Factor loading. The results of this study coincide with international research on the factor structure of the FCV-19S (Bitan et al, 2020;Huarcaya-Victoria et al, 2020;Masuyama et al, 2020;Reznik et al, 2020). That is, the emotional and physiological dimensions of fear are satisfactorily explained from a model of two related factors.…”

“…In that sense, it seems that the sample of participants would experience more physiological symptoms associated with fear of COVID-19 such as the presence of clammy palms, sleep disturbances, and heart palpitations. This is different from those reported by previous studies (Alyami et al, 2020;Masuyama et al, 2020;Reznik et al, 2020). It is also important to evaluate item 2 ("I am uncomfortable thinking about COVID-19") which had a low factorial load and does not seem to be a representative item in the older adult group.…”

“…To assess the fear of COVID-19, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S;Ahorsu et al, 2020) was recently developed. It has been translated into several languages and demonstrated adequate psychometric evidence of validity and reliability (Alyami et al, 2020;Bitan et al, 2020;Broche-P erez et al, 2020;Chang et al, 2020;Haktanir et al, 2020;Huarcaya-Victoria et al, 2020;Mart ınez-Lorca et al, 2020;Masuyama et al, 2020;Pang et al, 2020;Perz et al, 2020;Reznik et al, 2020;Sakib et al, 2020;Soraci et al, 2020;Tsipropoulou et al, 2020). Most of this research has suggested that this scale has a one-dimensional structure; however, others indicate the presence of two factors: the first related to physiological responses to COVID-19 and the second that represents emotional responses to COVID-19 (Bitan et al, 2020;Huarcaya-Victoria et al, 2020;Masuyama et al, 2020;Reznik et al, 2020).…”

The Mediating Effects of Fear of COVID-19 and Depression on the Association Between Intolerance of Uncertainty and Emotional Eating During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey

“…Higher scores indicate higher levels of fear of COVID-19. The scale has been widely used to assess fear of COVID-19 and has been validated in different cultural contexts (e.g., Mahmood et al 2020;Martinez-Lorca et al 2020;Masuyama et al 2020;Perz et al 2020).…”

Measuring Concern over Coronavirus in an Iranian non-clinical sample using the Coronavirus Disease Concern Scale (COVID-19CS)

“…The FCV-19S has Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, English, Ethiopian Amharic, French, Greek, Hebrew, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, and Urdu versions. Cronbach's alpha for the were between .80 to .89 [7,12,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36].…”