The application of the Things I Worry About Scale to a sample of at-risk American adolescents: an examination of psychometric properties

To date, published studies regarding the Things I Worry About Scale have been conducted exclusively in Northern Ireland and have included relatively homogeneous samples of students. The present study reexamined the psychometric properties of the scale using data collected from a sample of at-risk adolescents in the United States. The factor structure of the instrument was examined to determine the reliability of the instrument with a culture other than that with which the instrument was developed, and salient group differences were identified and discussed. The cross-cultural applicability of the instrument and the stability of the factor structure were explored and found to be relatively robust. However, differences were identified which were specifically related to the emergence of a highly salient component representing a very pessimistic view of what the future held. The results suggest the need for confirmatory factor analytical studies and further examination of the utility of the instrument with diverse populations.