German Version of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: Psychometric Parameters

Construction of anxiety and dimensional personality model in college students

A sample of 402 volunteer male (n = 156) and female (n = 246) Kuwaiti undergraduates responded to the Arabic versions of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The latter questionnaire has four subscales: Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Lie. Women obtained a higher mean score on Kuwait University Anxiety Scale and Neuroticism than did men, while men had a higher mean score on Psychoticism than did women. Factor analysis of the intercorrelations between the five variables, separately conducted for men and women, gave rise to two orthogonal factors called Anxiety-and-Neuroticism vs Extraversion, and Psychoticism vs Lie. Stepwise regression revealed that Neuroticism was the main predictor of anxiety. It was concluded that persons with high Neuroticism scores may be more vulnerable to anxiety than those with low scores.

Constructions of religiosity, subjective well-being, anxiety, and depression in two cultures: Kuwait and USA

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the present study was to explore the associations of religiosity with subjective well-being (SWB) and psychopathology (anxiety and depression) among college students recruited from two different cultures, Kuwait (n = 192) and the USA (n = 158).

METHOD

The students responded to the following scales in their native languages, Arabic and English, respectively: the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, the Love of Life Scale, the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale and the Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale. They also responded to six self-rating scales assessing happiness, satisfaction with life, mental health, physical health, religiosity and strength of religious belief.

RESULTS

The Kuwaiti students obtained higher mean scores on religiosity, religious belief and depression than did their American counterparts, whereas American students had higher mean scores on happiness and love of life. Two factors were extracted: 'SWB versus psychopathology' and 'Religiosity'.

CONCLUSION

Based on the responses of the present two samples, it was concluded that those who consider themselves as religious experienced greater well-being.

The Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety: Some Results from East and West

The twofold objectives of the present study were (a) to examine sex-related differences on the Arabic Scale of Death Anxiety (ASDA) in seven Arabic and Western countries, and (b) to compare the mean ASDA scores among Arabic samples (Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Syria) with Western samples (Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States). A total sample of 2,978 volunteer undergraduates participated in this study. They resided in their countries of origin and responded to the scale in their respective native-speaking languages. Sex-related differences on the ASDA were statistically significant in all countries (except the United Kingdom), with women having higher mean scores than their male peers. It was found that all the Arab samples, except the Lebanese men, had significantly higher mean ASDA scores than their Western counterparts. These differences might be explained either in the light of higher emotionally responsiveness of the Arab samples, differences in individualism and collectivism and in secularism in the countries, and the lower per capita income in the Arab countries except in Kuwait.

Differences in Anxiety Scores of College Students from Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the USA

A sample of 243 (114 men, 129 women) British university undergraduates responded to the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale in English. Their scores were compared with scores for 207 German, 312 Spanish, and 320 USA students previously tested. Analysis showed German men had the lowest mean score across the male groups, as did German women across the female groups. Women from the USA had the highest mean anxiety score. Sex differences for scores on the scale were significant only in the samples from Spain and the USA, with women scoring higher than men.

Reliability, Factorial Validity, and Means on the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: A UK University Sample

A sample of 243 (114 men and 129 women) British university undergraduates ( M age = 22.5 yr., 52? = 5.8; M age = 22.0 yr., SD = 5.7, respectively) completed the English version of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale. Principal components analysis with the use of parallel analysis and a scree test suggest that in the current sample the items form a single factor and show a coefficient alpha of .92, denoting high internal consistency. No significant mean difference was found by sex. By and large, the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale can be recommended for use in research among college students in the United Kingdom.

Anxiety in Kuwaiti and American college students

Samples of Kuwaiti (n=646) and American (n=320) undergraduates responded to the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale in Arabic and English, respectively. Differences by sex were significant, with women having a higher mean anxiety score than men and by country with Kuwaiti women having a higher anxiety score than American women.