Faculty of Medicine, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates.
BMC Psychiatry. 2024 Jun 18;24(1):456. doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05822-z.
Through the years, studying negative behaviors of the worldwide population seized the spotlight from many researchers who focused on building scales in order the measure the level of worries, fear and even depression of such stressed individuals. By definition, "Future anxiety" (FA) is fueled by negative thoughts leading to intense fear of unknown future events. The Dark Future scale (DFS) measures the level of anxiety experienced towards the future. Our aim was to examine the psychometric properties of a novel Arabic translation of the DFS.
A sample of 684 Arabic-speaking young adults (65.6% women) filled the DFS, TEMPS-M (temperaments) and DASS-8 (psychological distress).
Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported a unidimensional model of the DFS score, with all 5 items retained. This scale had good reliability. Moreover, concurrent validity demonstrated significant associations between DFS scores and psychological distress, depressive, cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperament. Scores achieved scalar invariance across gender, with women having greater exposure to anxiety about the future.
Overall, these findings led to the conclusion that the Arabic DFS is a psychometrically valid tool for the assessment of FA. The DFS is a brief, reliable and easy to apply scale that would help researchers in psychology and psychiatry in assessing anxiety about future.
多年来，研究全球人口的负面行为引起了许多研究人员的关注，他们专注于构建量表，以衡量这些压力人群的担忧、恐惧甚至抑郁程度。根据定义，“未来焦虑”（FA）是由负面思想引起的，导致对未知未来事件的强烈恐惧。黑暗未来量表（DFS）衡量对未来的焦虑程度。我们的目的是检验 DFS 的阿拉伯语新翻译的心理计量学特性。
一个由 684 名讲阿拉伯语的年轻人（65.6%为女性）组成的样本填写了 DFS、TEMPS-M（气质）和 DASS-8（心理困扰）。
验证性因素分析（CFA）支持 DFS 分数的单维模型，保留了所有 5 个项目。该量表具有良好的信度。此外，同时效度表明 DFS 分数与心理困扰、抑郁、双相、易怒和焦虑气质之间存在显著关联。在性别方面，DFS 分数达到了标度不变性，女性对未来的焦虑程度更高。
总的来说，这些发现得出结论，阿拉伯语 DFS 是评估未来焦虑的心理计量学有效工具。DFS 是一种简短、可靠且易于应用的量表，将有助于心理学和精神病学研究人员评估对未来的焦虑。
