A short form of the worry domains questionnaire: Construction and factorial validation

The Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ) [Tallis, F., Eysenck M.W., & Mathews, (1992). A questionnaire for the measurement of nonpathological worry. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 161-168)] is an instrument widely used to assess the amount of worry across five domains of everyday concern: relationships, lack of confidence, aimless future, work, and financial issues. With 25 items, however, the WDQ is somewhat lengthy. The aim of the present study was therefore to construct a 10-item short form (WDQ-SF). A sample of 1080 university students completed the 25 items of the WDQ. One-half of the sample was used to construct the WDQ-SF by selecting two appropriate items from each of the five WDQ domain subscales. The other half of the sample was used to cross-validate the factorial structure of the WDQ-SF by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Like the WDQ, the WDQ-SF displayed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.88) and a clear five-factor structure. Moreover, the WDQ-SF showed a near-perfect correlation with the WDQ long form (r=0.97). Thus, the WDQ-SF represents a reliable and economical alternative to the full 25-item scale.