Skip to main content
Log in

Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Fear Questionnaire phobia subscale items in two normative samples

  • Published:
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Normative data for the Fear Questionnaire (Marks & Mathews, 1979), a popular self-report instrument measuring phobic concerns, were collected from both a community and a collegiate sample. The covariation and internal consistency of the blood-injury phobia (BI), social phobia (SO), and agoraphobia (AG) subscales were assessed in each sample, and the factor structure of the items from these three subscales was examined. Results indicated that, in general, community subjects reported more phobic concerns than did collegiate subjects, and females reported greater phobic concerns than did males. Results from confirmatory factor analyses suggest that the three factors of BI, SO, and AG did not emerge from either data set. Follow-up exploratory factor analyses did identify the general factors of blood-injury phobia and agoraphobia. Normative data from the present study are compared to those obtained previously, and directions for future research are provided.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barlow, D. H., & Wadell, M. T. (1985). Agoraphobia. In D. H. Barlow (Ed.),Clinical handbook of psychological disorders (pp. 1–68). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M., & Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures.Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588–606.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambless, D. (1985). Agoraphobia. In M. Hersen & A. S. Bellack (Eds.),Handbook of clinical behavior therapy with adults (pp. 49–87). New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, D. A. (1987). Utility of confirmatory factor analysis in test validation research.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 584–594.

    Google Scholar 

  • Comrey, A. L. (1988). Factor-analytic methods of scale development in personality and clinical psychology.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 754–761.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests.Psychometrika, 16, 297–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallam, R. S., & Hafner, R. J. (1978). Fears of phobic patients: Analyses of self-report data.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 16, 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Himadi, W. G., Boice, R., & Barlow, D. H. (1986). Assessment of agoraphobia. II. Measurement of clinical change.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 321–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, N. S., & Revenstorf, D. (1988). Statistics for assessing the clinical significance of psychotherapy techniques: Issues, problems, and new developments.Behavioral Assessment, 10, 133–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joreskog, K. G. (1969). A general approach to confirmatory maximum likelihood factor analysis.Psychometrika, 34, 183–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joreskog, K. G., & Sorbom, D. (1984).Lisrel VI: Analysis of linear structural relationships by the method of maximum likelihood (User's guide). Mooresville, IN: Scientific Software.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall, P. C., & Norton-Ford, J. D. (1982). Therapy outcome research methods. In P. C. Kendall & J. N. Butcher (Eds.),Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (pp. 429–460). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavrakas, P. J. (1987).Telephone survey methods: Sampling, selection, and supervision. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks, I. M., & Mathews, A. M. (1979). Brief self-rating for phobic patients.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 17, 263–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mavissakalian, M. (1986). The Fear Questionnaire: A validity study.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 83–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michelson, L. (1987). Cognitive-behavioral assessment and treatment of agoraphobia. In L. Michelson & L. M. Ascher (Eds.),Anxiety and stress disorders: Cognitive-behavioral assessment and treatment (pp. 213–279). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mizes, J. S., & Crawford, J. (1986). Normative values on the Marks and Mathews Fear Questionnaire: A comparison as a function of age and sex.Journal of Psychopathohgy and Behavioral Assessment, 8, 253–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neitzel, M. T., & Trull, T. J. (1988). Meta-analytic approaches to social comparisons: A method for measuring clinical significance.Behavioral Assessment, 10, 159–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nietzel, M. T., Russell, R. L., Hemmings, K. A., & Gretter, M. L. (1987). The clinical significance of psychotherapy for unipolar depression: A meta-analytic approach to social comparison.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 156–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Weissman, M. M., Orvaschel, H., Gruenberg, E., Burke, J. D., & Reiger, D. A. (1984). Lifetime prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders in three sites.Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 949–958.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trull, T. J., Nietzel, M. T., & Main, A. (1988). The use of meta-analysis to assess the clinical significance of behavior therapy for agoraphobia.Behavior Therapy, 19, 527–538.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Trull, T.J., Hillerbrand, E. Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Fear Questionnaire phobia subscale items in two normative samples. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 12, 285–297 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00965984

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00965984

Key words

Navigation