Student Research Committee, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
Department of Psychology, College of Humanities, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
BMC Psychol. 2024 Oct 30;12(1):606. doi: 10.1186/s40359-024-02090-0.
Existential anxiety is the anxiety that goes beyond objective threats and is related to a person's existence. Due to the lack of appropriate instrument to measure all five domains of existential anxiety in the Iranian population, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Existential Concern Questionnaire (ECQ) in the Iranian general population.
This online cross-sectional survey was conducted from October 9 to December 11, 2023 in Tehran, Iran. We used an Internet-based data collection method. A total of 549 participants completed the questionnaires. The research instruments included the Existential Concern Questionnaire, Existential Anxiety Questionnaire, Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Short version of the Beck Depression Inventory, Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale-12, and Death Attitude Profile Revised. Confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity, and concurrent validity were used to measure the validity of ECQ. Cronbach's alpha and split-half methods were employed to assess the reliability of the ECQ.
Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of the unidimensional model (CMIN/DF: 2.802, RMR: 0.066, GFI: 0.914, NFI: 0.911, CFI: 0.941, PNFI: 0.769, PCFI: 0.794, RMSEA: 0.057). Also, the correlation of ECQ with other variables was as expected except for the search for meaning in life (r: 0.010, P = 0.808), which indicates the validity of this questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was also acceptable (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.935).
The results supported the validity and reliability of the ECQ. The mentioned questionnaire can be used in Iranian general population. Considering the importance of existential anxiety in etiology of some disorders, it is suggested that the future studies focus on validation of the ECQ in different clinical samples and cultures.
存在性焦虑是一种超越客观威胁的焦虑，与个人的存在有关。由于缺乏适当的工具来衡量伊朗人群中存在性焦虑的所有五个领域，本研究旨在检验存在性关注问卷（ECQ）在伊朗普通人群中的心理测量特性。
这是一项于 2023 年 10 月 9 日至 12 月 11 日在伊朗德黑兰进行的在线横断面调查。我们使用了基于互联网的数据收集方法。共有 549 名参与者完成了问卷。研究工具包括存在性关注问卷、存在性焦虑问卷、生活意义问卷、贝克抑郁量表简短版、不确定容忍度量表-12 和修订后的死亡态度量表。采用验证性因子分析、收敛效度和同时效度来衡量 ECQ 的效度。采用克朗巴赫α系数和半分法来评估 ECQ 的信度。
验证性因子分析显示，该单维模型拟合良好（CMIN/DF：2.802，RMR：0.066，GFI：0.914，NFI：0.911，CFI：0.941，PNFI：0.769，PCFI：0.794，RMSEA：0.057）。此外，ECQ 与其他变量的相关性与预期相符，除了对生活意义的探索（r：0.010，P=0.808），这表明该问卷具有有效性。问卷的信度也可以接受（克朗巴赫α系数：0.935）。
研究结果支持 ECQ 的有效性和可靠性。该问卷可用于伊朗普通人群。鉴于存在性焦虑在某些疾病发病机制中的重要性，建议未来的研究集中在不同临床样本和文化中对 ECQ 的验证。
