Psychometric Properties of the FAS and the FAM Questionnaires Assessing Flight Anxiety: A Turkish Community-Based Study

ABSTRACT

Objective

To conduct the Turkish adaptation of the Flight Anxiety Situations Questionnaire (FAS) and the Flight Anxiety Modality Questionnaire (FAM).

Background

The FAS measures the anxiety levels in different flight situations, while FAM assesses the somatic and cognitive symptoms of anxiety or anticipatory anxiety in different flight situations. The FAS and the FAM have been adapted to different cultures and used in different studies.

Method

645 adults from different regions of Turkey participated in this study (M_age = 25.58, SD_age = 10.43, 59.2% women). A Socio-demographic Information Form, the Visual Analog Flight Anxiety Scale (VAFAS), the FAS, the FAM and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were used for data collection.

Results

Exploratory factor analysis showed that the Turkish forms of the FAS and the FAM had similar factor structures to the original forms. The FAS consisted of three factors and the FAM consisted of two factors with factor loadings between .56 and .85. High Cronbach’s alpha scores (.78–.97) of the FAS, the FAM and their subscales supported internal consistency reliability. Convergent and discriminant validity of the scales were supported with correlation analysis and independent samples t-test.

Conclusion

The Turkish forms of the FAS and the FAM provided psychometrically sound self-report measures of flight anxiety. It is thought that these measures will be useful in clinical assessments, interventions and future cross-cultural research about flight anxiety in the Turkish community.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.