Aging Anxiety Scale for Middle-Aged Adults: Turkish Validity and Reliability Study

Abstract

The older population is increasing. As age increases, many changes occur in individuals' lives, physically, socially, psychologically, and this situation varies from individual to individual. The uncertainty about how this period will pass can cause anxiety in individuals. Therefore, valid and reliable tools are needed to investigate ageing anxiety and potential factors that increase this anxiety, especially in the ageing population. This article presents the results of a Turkish validity and reliability study of the Aging Anxiety Scale for Middle-Aged Adults. The study sample consisted of 293 middle-aged adults. Content validity, face validity and construct validity methods were applied to measure validity. Item analysis, Cronbach's alpha and test-retest methods were used to measure internal consistency in the reliability analysis. The content validity index of the Aging Anxiety Scale for Middle-Aged Adults was found to be 0.97 based on expert opinion. Model fit indices were calculated as chi 2 = 473.583, df = 275, chi 2/df = 1.722, CFI = 0.95, GFI = 0.89, IFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.05, RMR = 0.06 and SRMR = 0.05. The analysis results indicated that the scale model values were within accepted limits and that the 5-sub-factor and 26-item structure of the scale was confirmed. It was concluded that the Turkish version of the Aging Anxiety Scale for Middle-Aged Adults was a valid and reliable measurement tool to enable Turkish society to determine middle-aged individuals' ageing concerns.