Reliability and validity of some specific fear questionnaires

Normative psychometric data on a Swedish translation of fear questionnaires concerning snakes, spiders, public speaking, and mutilation given to 223 college students are presented. High internal consistencies were found for all four questionnaires, and low intercorrelations among the four inventories emerged. In a separate study the inventories were administered to a clinical sample of spider and snake phobics. Phobics scored higher on their respective phobic scale than the college group but did not differ from controls on mutilation or public speaking scales. A significant negative correlation emerged between snake and spider scores among the phobics. One year test‐retest reliabilities in the phobic sample were high. Finally, snake and spider phobics viewed and rated phobic and nonphobic slides. Snake phobics rated snake slides as more aversive than spider slides, whereas the reverse was true for spider phobics. The correlation between fear ratings and questionnaire scores was significant. Use of these scales in evaluating therapeutic changes is encouraged.