Inventário de medos III: Avaliação das qualidades psicométricas em uma amostra portuguesa

Abstract

This study aimed at evaluating the psychometric properties of the Fear Survey Schedule-III in a Portuguese sample. A total 1,980 subjects, selected by convenience sampling from a normative adult population, participated in this study. The participants are aged between 18 and 80 years (M = 39.5, SD = 8.5) and 59% of them are female. The psychometric properties of the scale were evaluated regarding psychometric sensitivity, construct validity, and reliability. The external construct validity was evaluated with multigroup analysis in a random sample, independent from the initial validation sample. The originally proposed factor model presented an unacceptable adjustment to the validation sample. Thus, it was proceeded the refi nement of the model with a part of the sample which was randomly selected. In conclusion, the simplifi ed model presented as a good factorial goodness of fi t, and was invariant in a second sample, independent from the fi rst. A new hierarchical structure was proposed with a 2nd order factor called "Fears" which showed good psychometric properties (sensitivity, construct validity and reliability).