Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the fear of COVID-19 scale in three Portuguese-speaking countries.
- Authors
- Type
- Published Article
- Journal
- Journal of health psychology
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2022
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 2997–3012
- Identifiers
- DOI: 10.1177/13591053221076578
- PMID: 35187982
- Source
- Medline
- Keywords
- Language
- English
- License
- Unknown
Abstract
This study evaluated the measurement invariance of the Portuguese version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) across three countries: Brazil (South America), Mozambique (East Africa), and Portugal (Southwest Europe). A total of 8694 participants were recruited through convenience sampling (7430 Brazilians, 387 Mozambicans, and 877 Portuguese adults). The unidimensional structure of the FCV-19S fitted well with each country's data. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that the FCV-19S was partially invariant across countries and fully invariant across gender and age groups, thus providing a solid basis for cross-group comparisons. Structural invariance tests revealed different levels of fear across countries and genders but not across age groups.
