Validation of the Spanish Version of Fear of COVID-19 Scale: its Association with Acute Stress and Coping

Abstract

The COVID-19 is a “unique” stressor, which can produce physical and psychological trauma. Coping styles can buffer this psychological impact. Consequently, this paper aims to psychometrically adapt the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) to Spanish and examines the relationships between FCV-19S, stress response, and coping strategies. The sample comprised a convenience sample of 1146 participants (12–83 years), 880 from Spain (76.8%), and 266 from Dominican Republic (23.2%). Overall, the findings support a one-factor structure for FCV-19S, consisting of 7-items, and was invariant across age, sex, occupational status, and cross-national. Therefore, indicating evidences of construct validity. Evidences of reliability were also observed (Cronbach’s α = .86, McDonald’s ω = .86, Guttmann’s λ6 = .86, greatest lower bound = .91, composite reliability = .85, and average variance extracted = .44). Moreover, as regards criterion-related validity, the mediation analysis indicated that the relationship between FCV-19S and acute stress was positive and high, with maladaptive coping styles mediating the relationship, and with a stronger mediation for men. The findings give evidences of the reliability and validity of the Spanish version of FCV-19S among Spanish-speaker participants, which provides the chance of cross-cultural studies.

Re-testing the psychometric properties of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19s)

“…This is in congruence to previous studies done to test the tool's psychometric properties. [7,9,41,43,48,49,52,56,57,63,68] Conversely, the results are inconsistent to that of other studies where 2 factor models, emotional and physical response, were found to be better fit in the bifactorial structure than that of the unidimensional structure found in the current study. [6,37,47,51,55,62,63,69,70] It is also important to note that in other studies, FCV-19s was found to have 1 factor and 2 factor models.…”

The fear of COVID-19 scale: Its structure and measurement invariance across 48 countries.

“…Other studies also demonstrated invariance between genders (Piqueras et al, 2021; Sakib et al, 2020) and healthcare workers versus nonhealthcare workers (Huarcaya-Victoria et al, 2020). Further, two studies showed invariance between age groups (younger vs. older, with the specific age threshold varying across studies; Huarcaya-Victoria et al, 2020; Piqueras et al, 2021; Sakib et al, 2020). Taken together, although former studies have been concerned with FCV-19S’s equivalency across a limited number of cultures (and some groups), no study has examined the scale’s equivalency globally via a standardized procedure of data collection in culturally diversified context (i.e., most world regions).…”

“…Lastly, a recent study (Lin et al, 2021) across 11 countries (i.e., Bangladesh, Brazil, Cuba, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Taiwan, United Kingdom), primarily based on datasets from previous studies on the psychometric properties of the FCV-19S, showed that a one-factor solution of the FCV-19S indicated partial scalar invariance across countries and scalar invariance across gender and age groups (i.e., child, young to middle-aged adult, older people). Other studies also demonstrated invariance between genders (Piqueras et al, 2021;Sakib et al, 2020) and healthcare workers versus nonhealthcare workers (Huarcaya-Victoria et al, 2020). Further, two studies showed invariance between age groups (younger vs. older, with the specific age threshold varying across studies; Huarcaya-Victoria et al, 2020;Piqueras et al, 2021;Sakib et al, 2020).…”

“…However, this study identified only partial scalar invariance, indicating that one item [(4) “I am afraid of losing my life because of coronavirus-19”] is not invariant. One cross-cultural study did not report the scale’s factorial structure and psychometric properties (Ali et al, 2021), and another illustrated invariance between the Dominican Republic and Spain (Piqueras et al, 2021). Lastly, a recent study (Lin et al, 2021) across 11 countries (i.e., Bangladesh, Brazil, Cuba, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Taiwan, United Kingdom), primarily based on datasets from previous studies on the psychometric properties of the FCV-19S, showed that a one-factor solution of the FCV-19S indicated partial scalar invariance across countries and scalar invariance across gender and age groups (i.e., child, young to middle-aged adult, older people).…”

The Fear of Coronavirus-19 Infection Questionnaire: Factor Structure, Psychometric Properties, and Measurement Invariance among Hispanic Adults

“…In 4 out of 7 samples an AVE < .50 was found in at least one factor. Convergent validity issues (AVE < .50) with Spanish versions occurred in at least three more studies (Martínez-Lorca et al, 2020;Piqueras et al, 2021;Soto-Briseño et al, 2021). Another study by Huarcaya-Victoria et al (2022) confirmed a two-factor structure but item 5 had mixed loadings.…”