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Structure and Psychometric Properties of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children in Chinese Adolescents

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Abstract

The present research introduced the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C) to China and evaluated its structure and psychometric properties in Chinese adolescent samples. The PSWQ-C is a 14-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure the generality, excessiveness, and uncontrollability aspects of pathological worries in children and adolescents. Factor analysis results suggested that the three reverse-scored items represented one or more unknown factors rather than worry; thus, they were discarded and the remaining 11 positively worded items formed the Chinese version of the PSWQ-C (CH-PSWQ-C). The CH-PSWQ-C was found to have acceptable internal consistency reliability and favorable convergent and divergent validity by examining its correlations with measures of anxiety, depression, and some personality characteristics. To illustrate the utility of the CH-PSWQ-C in Chinese adolescent samples, we used the CH-PSWQ-C to explore the moderating effect of neuroticism on the relationship between earthquake experiences and worry; the results suggested that adolescents with high neuroticism were more vulnerable to worry after experiencing serious disasters.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Project Number: 01600–452–10142-015) and the open project from Mental Health Key Lab of Science Academy of China (Project Number: KLMH2011G06).

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  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Clinical and Health Psychology Department, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, No. 5, Yi-He-Yuan Rd., Haidian, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Yixing Liu & Jie Zhong

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  1. Yixing Liu
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Correspondence to Jie Zhong.

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Author Jie Zhong has received research grants from the National Science Foundation of China and the Mental Health Key Lab of Science Academy of China. Author Yixing Liu declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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Liu, Y., Zhong, J. Structure and Psychometric Properties of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children in Chinese Adolescents. J Abnorm Child Psychol 48, 1499–1510 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00680-1

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