Fernández-Martínez Iván, Morales Alexandra, Espada José Pedro, Orgilés Mireia
Miguel Hernández University, Department of Health Psychology, Avda. de la Universidad s/n, Elche, 03202, Alicante, Spain; Faculty of Education, Valencian International University (VIU), Valencia, 46002, Spain.
Miguel Hernández University, Department of Health Psychology, Avda. de la Universidad s/n, Elche, 03202, Alicante, Spain.
J Anxiety Disord. 2022 May;88:102572. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102572. Epub 2022 Apr 25.
Coping strategies can play an important role in dealing with nighttime fears and related anxiety problems in school-aged children, but well-established self-reporting tools are lacking, and research in this area is limited. The aim of this study was to develop a new self-report instrument assessing coping strategies in school-aged children when facing nighttime fears, the Nighttime Coping Response Scale (NCRS), and to examine its psychometric properties. Participants were 786 children (48.7% boys) aged 8-12 years, who completed the NCRS and other measures related to anxiety and behavioral problems. The construction of the NCRS was based on relevant prior literature and experts' criteria. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses supported a three-factor structure, comprising 15 items measuring coping strategies related to self-control, social support seeking, and avoidance. The NCRS was shown to have good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and divergent validity. This research found preliminary support for the use of the NCRS, suggesting the potential suitability of this brief tool to be used by clinicians and researchers to identify and address the use of children's maladaptive coping strategies when dealing with nighttime fears. The NCRS could also be important to enable the development of further research in this field.
应对策略在处理学龄儿童夜间恐惧及相关焦虑问题中可发挥重要作用，但缺乏成熟的自我报告工具，且该领域研究有限。本研究旨在开发一种新的自我报告工具——夜间应对反应量表（NCRS），以评估学龄儿童面对夜间恐惧时的应对策略，并检验其心理测量特性。研究参与者为786名8至12岁的儿童（48.7%为男孩），他们完成了NCRS以及其他与焦虑和行为问题相关的测量。NCRS的构建基于先前的相关文献和专家标准。探索性和验证性分析支持了一个三因素结构，该结构由15个项目组成，测量与自我控制、寻求社会支持和回避相关的应对策略。结果表明，NCRS具有良好的内部一致性、重测信度以及聚合效度和区分效度。本研究为NCRS的使用提供了初步支持，表明这一简短工具可能适合临床医生和研究人员用于识别和解决儿童在应对夜间恐惧时的适应不良应对策略。NCRS对于推动该领域的进一步研究也可能具有重要意义。
