Development and Validation of Anxiety Due to Nuclear War Threat Scale

Abstract

Anxiety is a common reaction to the threat of nuclear war, and there is a need for a reliable and valid measure to assess it. Existing questionnaires on the specific anxiety due to the danger of nuclear war only measure some of the four clusters of anxiety symptoms (cognitive, emotional, somatic, behavioural), or they measure coping strategies or attitudes toward nuclear weapons. Therefore, the main aim was to develop a new Anxiety due to the Nuclear War Threat Scale (ANWTS) and to determine its psychometric characteristics. In a cross-sectional online study, 287 participants from a community setting (64.8% women) filled out the ANWTS, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), the Nuclear War Anxiety Questionnaire, and the Nuclear Coping Strategies scale. Exploratory factor analysis showed a two-factor structure with Cognitive and Emotional Symptoms Subscale (11 items, ⍵ = .96) and Somatic Symptoms Subscale (6 items, ⍵ = .93). High convergent and divergent validity was demonstrated. Known-group differences validity showed that women reported higher anxiety symptoms on both subscales and total scale than men. A new 17-item ANWTS is reliable and valid in measuring cognitive, emotional, and somatic anxiety symptoms due to possible nuclear war threats.