Development and Validation of the Academic Worry State Questionnaire(AWSQ) for Learners in their 20s

Objectives The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a scale of learners’ worry arising in the academic situation, to examine the psychometric properties of the developed scale. Methods To this end, we developed the Academic Worry State Questionnaire(AWSQ) and conducted internal consistency analysis and exploratory factor analysis on 208 learners in their 20s, and derived the main factors. Subsequently, we performed confirmatory factor analysis on an independent sample of 207 to evaluate the model fit. We also examined the discriminant validity, convergent validity, and criterion validity through correlation analysis between the developed Academic Worry State Questionnaire and related variables. Results Using the estimation sample of 208, the final 1-factor scale with 9 items was derived, demonstratinga high internal consistency, exceeding .90. Confirmatory factor analysis on the 207 validation sample showed good fit with CFI .978, TLI .970, RMSEA .067, and SRMR .035. Correlation analysis with related variables showed that the scale had convergent validity as it had statistically significant positive correlations with the Penn State Worry Questionnaire(PSWQ) scale and fear of failure. On the other hand, the scale had discriminant validity as it had significant negative correlations with trait academic self-efficacy and state academic self-efficacy. Criterion validity was also confirmed, as the scale showed significant positive correlations with the subscales of the academic exhaution scale and significant negative correlations with Conclusions The scale developed in this study has potential clinical significance for future use in educational or counseling interventions. The study concludes by discussing the implications and limitations of the study.