A confirmatory factor analysis of specific phobia domains in African American and Caucasian American young adults

• Published in: Journal of anxiety disorders 2008-06, Vol.22 (5), p.763-771
• Main Authors: Chapman, L. Kevin, Kertz, Sarah J, Zurlage, Megan M, Woodruff-Borden, Janet
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; African Americans; African Americans - statistics & numerical data; Age Factors; Anxiety disorders; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Black American people; Confirmatory factor analysis; Confirmatory factory analysis; European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Fear; Fear - psychology; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Midwestern United States - epidemiology; Models, Psychological; Nosology. Terminology. Diagnostic criteria; Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data; Phobia; Phobias; Phobic Disorders - diagnosis; Phobic Disorders - epidemiology; Phobic Disorders - psychology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Students - statistics & numerical data; Surveys and Questionnaires; Techniques and methods; Young adults
• ISSN: 0887-6185; 1873-7897
• DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.08.003

Abstract The current study investigated factors related to specific phobia domains and differences in patterns among African American and Caucasian American adults. Subjects were 100 African Americans and 121 Caucasian Americans who completed the Fear Survey Schedule—Second Edition (FSS-II). Fears related to specific phobia domains were first examined, with frequencies differing between African American and Caucasian American samples on three of the six specific phobia domains. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine the patterns of specific phobias among the African American sample. The trimmed model for the African American sample included natural environment, animal and social anxiety specific phobia factors as latent, exogenous variables. Data from the Caucasian American sample provided a poor fit to this model. Instead, the trimmed model for the Caucasian American sample included the situational, animal and social anxiety factors. The natural environment-type specific phobia factor did not have adequate fit for the Caucasian American sample as in the African American sample. Results indicated that different factor loading patterns of fear-related stimuli may exist among African American and Caucasian American young adults. Potential explanations and future directions are discussed.