ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) is a practical self-report measure that screens for the severity of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in primary care. Previous studies have shown that the GAD-7 is theoretically sound, but the results regarding its psychometric properties have been somewhat inconsistent with both adult and student samples. Despite these findings, the psychometric properties of the GAD-7 have remained untested among Korean university students, for whom the identification of efficient measures of these constructs is especially important. To determine the psychometric properties of the GAD-7, the present study examined the internal consistency, convergent validity, and underlying factor structure of the GAD-7 with a sample of Korean university students.

METHODS: The sample consisted of 582 students attending a four-year university in South Korea. All participants completed the Korean version of the GAD-7, the Depression Anxiety, and Stress Scale–21 (DASS-21), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). The factor structure of the GAD-7 was assessed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and its convergent validity was determined by investigating its correlations with the DASS-21 and PHQ-9.

RESULTS: CFA procedures confirmed that a modified one-factor model was an acceptable solution. The internal consistency of the scale was excellent. The GAD-7 showed a moderate to strong correlation with the three subscales of the DASS-21 and with the PHQ-9, confirming convergent validity.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that the modified GAD-7 is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing generalized anxiety symptoms in university students. Its use for research and health care practice is warranted.

摘要

目的：七项广义焦虑症量表（GAD-7）是一种实用的自我报告测量方法，可以筛查初级保健中的广义焦虑症的严重程度。先前的研究表明，GAD-7在理论上是合理的，但有关其心理测量特性的结果与成人和学生样本都有些不一致。尽管有这些发现，GAD-7的心理测量特性仍未在韩国大学生中进行测试，对于他们而言，确定这些结构的有效措施尤为重要。为了确定GAD-7的心理测量特性，本研究以韩国大学生为​​样本，研究了GAD-7的内部一致性，收敛效度和潜在因素结构。

方法：样本由582名在韩国四年制大学就读的学生组成。所有参与者均完成了韩国版GAD-7，抑郁焦虑和压力量表–21（DASS-21）和《患者健康调查表》（PHQ-9）。GAD-7的因子结构通过探索性因子分析（EFA）和验证性因子分析（CFA）进行了评估，其收敛效度是通过研究其与DASS-21和PHQ-9的相关性来确定的。

结果： CFA程序证实，修改后的单因素模型是可以接受的解决方案。量表的内部一致性极好。GAD-7与DASS-21的三个分量表和PHQ-9呈中等至强相关性，证实了收敛效度。

结论：研究结果表明，改良的GAD-7是评估大学生焦虑症状的可靠有效工具。必须将其用于研究和保健实践。