The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Psychometric properties and measurement invariance across 10 months

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to various negative consequences including fear. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) has been widely used in diverse cultures, but no study has ever investigated its longitudinal measurement invariance and predictive validity. Therefore, we examined its longitudinal measurement invariance and predictive validity over 10 months. A sample of Chinese undergraduates (N = 682; first wave 842; 682 second wave) completed the FCV-19S as well as measures assessing depression, anxiety, and stress. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted along with measurement invariance testing. The results showed that the bifactor model fitted well, and significantly predicted stress and anxiety, but not depression. The FCV-19S demonstrated partial measurement invariance (i.e. configural and metric invariances) across time. These findings suggest that the Chinese version of FCV-19S is a reliable tool and could be used in evaluating the severity of fear of COVID-19 among Chinese young adults.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The statistical data of the present study are available online at https://osf.io/y5h7w/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the key Research Base Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission under Grant [number 23SKJD046]; the Project of Chongqing Normal University under Grant [number 23XWB003]; and the Research Project of Chongqing Education and Teaching Reform under Grant [number Z212040].