A Newly Developed Scale for Assessing Individuals’ Perceived Threat of Potential War

Abstract

Objectives: Mental health can be negatively affected by the threat of war even in the absence of direct experience of armed conflicts. But psychometric instruments that can measure the perceived threat of potential war are lacking. In the present study, we intended to develop an instrument called the Perceived Threats of Potential War Scale (PTPWS) and to examine its psychometric properties in a telephone interview study on Taiwanese individuals regarding the perceived threat of potential war between China and Taiwan. Methods: The PTPWS was tested with a representative sample of 2,000 Taiwanese individuals who were recruited based on whether they used a house telephone or a cell phone only. The PTPWS was tested item properties, using score distributions, mean and standard deviation, item–rest correlations, skewness, and kurtosis; factor structure, using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); measurement invariance; and concurrent validity, using testing the correlations with awareness of China’s military activities, intention to emigrate, depression, and anxiety. Results: The items of the PTPWS had acceptable psychometric properties and were internally consistent. The EFA results suggested a one-factor structure for the PTPWS, which was confirmed using CFA. The results of measurement invariance indicated that the PTPWS is applicable across gender, age, and contact method groups. The concurrent validity of the PTPWS was supported by the significant differences in the PTPWS scores across subgroups with various levels of awareness of mainland China’s military activities, intention to emigrate, depression, and anxiety. Conclusion: The PTPWS has been found to be a useful and reliable measure to assess the perceived threat of potential war with China among Taiwanese individuals.

Keywords

• anxiety; depression; intention to emigrate; psychometrics