Department of Communication & Oncological Sciences Center, Discovery Park, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
J Psychosoc Oncol. 2010;28(5):470-89. doi: 10.1080/07347332.2010.498459.
Past research has suggested that dispositional cancer worry may be a key predictor of health behavior. The current study examined seven measures of dispositional cancer worry to see if they were significantly related (convergent validity), significantly different from similar but distinct traits (divergent validity), and capable of predicting cancer-relevant outcomes (predictive validity). Four hundred and eighty nine undergraduate students completed a survey measuring dispositional worry, dispositional cancer worry, and perceived cancer risk. Factor analysis identified four underlying dimensions that explained 67.3% of the variance in dispositional cancer worry: severity (42.8%), frequency (12.3%), psychological reactance (6.9%), and worry impact (5.3%). Four existing measures of dispositional cancer worry were found to represent each of these dimensions. In general, dispositional cancer worry measures were highly correlated with one another and only moderately correlated with measures of dispositional worry, supporting strong convergent and divergent validity. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that dispositional cancer worry measures predicted significant variance in cancer-relevant outcomes above and beyond dispositional worry. The results of the current study support the notion that dispositional cancer worry and dispositional worry are distinct constructs. Furthermore, two dimensions of dispositional cancer worry (severity and frequency) seemed to have the strongest convergent, divergent, and predictive validity.
过去的研究表明，性格癌症担忧可能是健康行为的一个关键预测因素。本研究考察了七种性格癌症担忧的测量方法，以确定它们是否存在显著相关性（收敛效度）、是否与相似但不同的特征有显著差异（发散效度），以及是否能够预测与癌症相关的结果（预测效度）。489 名本科生完成了一项调查，测量了性格担忧、性格癌症担忧和感知癌症风险。因素分析确定了四个潜在的维度，解释了性格癌症担忧的 67.3%的方差：严重程度（42.8%）、频率（12.3%）、心理反应（6.9%）和担忧影响（5.3%）。发现现有的四种性格癌症担忧测量方法分别代表了这些维度中的每一个。一般来说，性格癌症担忧测量方法之间高度相关，与性格担忧测量方法只有中度相关，这支持了较强的收敛和发散效度。层次回归分析显示，性格癌症担忧测量方法可以预测癌症相关结果的显著差异，超过了性格担忧。本研究的结果支持这样一种观点，即性格癌症担忧和性格担忧是不同的结构。此外，性格癌症担忧的两个维度（严重程度和频率）似乎具有最强的收敛、发散和预测效度。
