Measuring COVID-19-related fear and threat in Australian, Indian, and Nepali university students

The present study describes the adaption and validation of a brief measure of contagion-related fear and threat in

Australian, Indian, and Nepali university students in Australia at the height of the first wave of the COVID-19

pandemic. Adapted from Ho, Kwong-Lo, Mak, and Wong’s (2005) SARS-related fear scale, the Contagion Fear

and Threat Scale (CFTS) was rapidly adapted to capture the experience of COVID-19 pandemic-related fear. The

factor structure and validity of the 6-item scale were established among Australian (n = 154), Indian (n = 111),

and Nepali (n = 149) university students studying in Australia in May–June 2020. Factor analysis revealed two 3-

item factors in the Australian student sample: Fear of Infection and Existential Threat. These factors were

confirmed in the Indian and Nepali student samples and mirror those found by the Ho et al. (2005) in their

original instrument. The convergent and discriminant validity of the full CFTS, Fear of Infection, and Existential

Threat scales are indicated via correlations with established measures of depression, anxiety, stress, subjective

wellbeing, and religiosity. Differences in the performance of the Fear of Infection and Existential Threat scales

are considered in terms of the respective objective and subjective nature of the constructs