Artículo Materias > Psicología Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana México > Investigación > Artículos y libros Abierto Inglés Objective The aim is to validate a test in Latin America that measures fear perception and concern about a world war. Methodology It is an instrumental study using Google Forms. It obtained 1684 participants in eight countries in Latin America. The creation of the first instrument was based on previous questionnaires that measured fear in the face of unexpected events, and other specific questions were added in the context of the war. Subsequently, the entire validation process was carried out. It was calculated the values of skewness, kurtosis, and communalities. Results Exploratory factor analysis showed that two factors were generated, confirmed by the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin test (KMO = 0,962) and Barlett’s test (19558.5; df = 78; p = 0.000). Confirmatory factor analysis yielded seven items in two factors (χ2 = 139,85, df = 13, p = 0.001; RMR = 0.050; GFI = 0.980; CFI = 0,990; TLI = 0.980; and RMSEA = 0.080). The global Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92 (for factor 1 = 0.98, and factor 2 = 0.88). Discussion The final instrument with seven questions allows to measure adequately general fear (factor 1), and physical and mental repercussions due to the possibility of the outbreak of a world war (factor 2). metadata Mejia, Christian R.; Esteban, Renzo Felipe Carranza; Mamani-Benito, Oscar; Aveiro-Róbalo, Telmo Raúl; Zamora-Huaringa, Elvira G.; Vega-Useche, Leonel; Padilla-F, Valeria J.; Almada-Lesmo, Deisy P.; Castrillón-Lozano, Jorge Andrés; Martínez-Bourdier, Alan A.; Armada, Jose; Alvarez-Risco, Aldo; Del-Aguila-Arcentales, Shyla; Davies, Neal M. y Yáñez, Jaime A. mail SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, SIN ESPECIFICAR, jaime.yanez@unini.edu.mx (2025) Fear and concern about the outbreak of a world war: validation of an instrument in eight Latin American countries (Third World War scale). BMC Psychology, 13 (1). ISSN 2050-7283