J Korean Med Sci.  2010 Aug;25(8):1210-1216. 10.3346/jkms.2010.25.8.1210.

Reliability and Validity of the Korean Version of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire in Primary School Children

• Kang SG
• Shin JH
• Song SW

• KMID: 1714045
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2010.25.8.1210

Abstract

Worry is a generalized psychological phenomenon seen among most people. When worry is excessive and nearly uncontrollable, people usually suffer psychological pain. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C) was developed to measure worry objectively. It comprises 14 items for measuring excessive, generalized, and uncontrollable worry in children. This study, conducted with a large group of elementary children (3rd through 6th graders, ages 8-12 yr; N=973), investigated the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-CK). The PSWQ-CK showed high reliability by test-retest and also excellent internal consistency results. To examine the validity of the PSWQ-CK, we calculated its correlation with the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). The PSWQ-CK had a higher correlation with the worry/oversensitivity factor than with other subscales of the RCMAS, and it showed no correlation with the lie factor. When 3 reversed PSWQ-CK items were eliminated, the instrument showed higher internal consistency. However, this did not improve its correlation with other anxiety-measuring tools. In conclusion, the PSWQ-CK's reliability and validity were satisfactory, and it is a useful tool for objectively measuring the worry of Korean children of this age group.

Keyword

Worry; Anxiety; Child; the Korean version of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children

MeSH Terms

Anxiety/*diagnosis/psychology
Anxiety Disorders/*diagnosis/psychology
Child
Female
Humans
Male
Psychometrics
*Questionnaires
Reference Values
Republic of Korea
Translating

Reference

1. Borkovec TD, Robinson E, Pruzinsky T, DePree JA. Preliminary exploration of worry: some characteristics and processes. Behav Res Ther. 1983. 21:9–16.

2. Brosschot JF, Gerin W, Thayer JF. The perseverative cognition hypothesis: a review of worry, prolonged stress-related physiological activation, and health. J Psychosom Res. 2006. 60:113–124.

3. Meyer TJ, Miller ML, Metzger RL, Borkovec TD. Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behav Res Ther. 1990. 28:487–495.

4. Brown TA, Antony MM, Barlow DH. Psychometric properties of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire in a clinical anxiety disorders sample. Behav Res Ther. 1992. 30:33–37.

5. Chorpita BF, Tracey SA, Brown TA, Collica TJ, Barlow DH. Assessment of worry in children and adolescents: an adaptation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behav Res Ther. 1997. 35:569–581.

6. Muris P, Meesters C, Gobel M. Reliability, Validity, and normative data of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire in 8-12-yr-old children. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2001. 32:63–72.

7. Castaneda A, Mccandless BR, Palermo DS. The children's form of the manifest anxiety scale. Child Dev. 1956. 27:317–326.

8. Reynolds CR, Richmond BO. What I think and feel: a revised measure of children's manifest anxiety. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 1978. 6:271–280.

9. Reynolds CR, Richmond BO. Factor structure and construct validity of "What I think and feel": The Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. J Pers Assess. 1979. 43:281–283.

10. Reynolds CR, Paget KD. Factor analysis of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale for blacks, whites, males, and females with a national normative sample. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1981. 49:352–359.

11. Choi JS, Cho SC. Assessment of Anxiety in Children-Reliability and Validity of Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc. 1990. 29:691–701.

12. Guillemin F, Bombardier C, Beaton D. Cross-cultural adaptation of health related quality of life measure: Literature review and proposed guidelines. J Clin Epidemiol. 1993. 46:1417–1432.

13. Beaton DE, Bombardier C, Guillemin F, Ferraz MB. Guidelines for the process of cross cultural adaptation of self report measures. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2000. 25:3186–3191.

14. Meng XL, Rosenthal R, Rubin DB. Comparing correlated correlation coefficients. Psychol Bull. 1992. 111:172–175.

15. Dugas MJ, Freeston MH, Ladouceur R, Rheaume J, Provencher M, Boisvert JM. Worry themes in primary GAD, secondary GAD, and other anxiety disorders. J Anxiety Disord. 1998. 12:253–261.

16. Orton GL. A comparative study of children's worries. J Psychol. 1982. 110:153–162.

17. Muris P, Merckelbach H, Gadet B, Moularrt V. Fears, worries, and scary dreams in 4-12 year-old children: Their content, developmental pattern, and origins. J Clin Child Psychol. 2000. 29:43–52.

18. Mathews A. Why worry? The cognitive function of anxiety. Behav Res Ther. 1990. 28:455–468.

19. Ialongo N, Edelsohn G, Werthamer-Larsson L, Crockett L, Kellam S. The significance of self-reported anxious symptoms in first grade children. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 1994. 22:441–455.

20. Vasey MW, Borkovec TD. A catastrophizing assessment of worrisome thoughts. Cognit Ther Res. 1992. 16:505–519.

21. Vasey MW. Ollendick TH, Prinz RJ, editors. Development and cognition in children. The example of worry. Advances in clinical child psychology. 1993. 15. New York: Plenum Press;1–39.

22. Muris P, Meesters C, Merckelbach H, Sermon A, Zwakhalen S. Worry in normal children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1998. 37:703–710.

23. Pestle SL, Chorpita BF, Schiffman J. Psychometric properties of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for children in a large clinical sample. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2008. 37:465–471.

24. Lim SR. The study on characteristics of children's unease and its developmental meaning. J Early Child Educ. 1997. 17:123–143.

25. Pela OA, Reynolds CR. Cross-cultural application of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale: Normative and reliability data for Nigerian primary school children. Psychol Rep. 1982. 51:1135–1138.