The hierarchic structure of fears: A cross-cultural replication with the fear survey schedule in a portuguese sample

摘要

A confirmatory attempt is made to assess the validity of a hierarchic structural model of fears. Using a samplecomprising 1,980 adult volunteers in Portugal, the present study set out to delineate the multidimensional structureand hierarchic organization of a large set of feared stimuli by contrasting a higher-order model comprising generalfear at the highest level against a first-order model and a unitary fear model. Following a refinement of the originalmodel, support was found for a five-factor model on a first-order level, namely (1) Social fears, (2) Agoraphobicfears, (3) Fears of bodily injury, death and illness, (4) Fears of display to aggressive scenes, and (5) Harmlessanimals fears. These factors in turn loaded on a General fear factor at the second-order level. However, the firstordermodel was as parsimonious as a hierarchic higher-order model. The hierarchic model supports a quantitativehierarchic approach which decomposes fear disorders into agoraphobic, social, and specific (animal and bloodinjury)fears.