Adaptation and Validation of the Indonesian Version of the Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS)
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Confirmatory factor analysis, guidance and counseling, instrument adaptation, preschool anxiety, validity and reliabilityAbstract
Anxiety is common yet frequently overlooked in preschool aged children, who often lack the verbal capacity to report their internal states, making valid parent report screening instruments essential. This study aimed to adapt the Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS) into Indonesian and examine its content validity, item validity, factor structure, and reliability. The original PAS (Spence, Rapee, McDonald, & Ingram, 2001) consists of 28 items across five dimensions and five supplementary post traumatic stress items. The adaptation involved forward translation, expert content validity judgment by three raters, back translation, and cultural and linguistic revision. Item validity and reliability were tested on 66 pilot respondents, while confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), construct reliability, average variance extracted (AVE), and discriminant validity were examined using the main sample (n = 171). Item total correlation indicated that 31 of 33 scored items were valid, and the 33 item instrument demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.912). All three raters considered the instrument feasible with minor revision. The CFA of the 26 item, five factor model showed acceptable fit (χ²(289) = 551.58, CFI = 0.891, TLI = 0.877, RMSEA = 0.073). Composite reliability was adequate across factors (0.751 to 0.867), although AVE was below 0.50 for two factors. Inter factor correlations also exceeded the square root of AVE, indicating limited discriminant validity and a strong higher order general anxiety factor. Overall, the Indonesian PAS demonstrates strong content validity, item validity, and reliability, with preliminary support for its five factor structure. Subscale interpretation should be made cautiously pending confirmation with larger, representative samples.
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