%J BMC Psychology
%D 2025
%L uninimx17791
%R doi:10.1186/s40359-025-02622-2
%V 13
%A Christian R. Mejia
%A Renzo Felipe Carranza Esteban
%A Oscar Mamani-Benito
%A Telmo Raúl Aveiro-Róbalo
%A Elvira G. Zamora-Huaringa
%A Leonel Vega-Useche
%A Valeria J. Padilla-F
%A Deisy P. Almada-Lesmo
%A Jorge Andrés Castrillón-Lozano
%A Alan A. Martínez-Bourdier
%A Jose Armada
%A Aldo Alvarez-Risco
%A Shyla Del-Aguila-Arcentales
%A Neal M. Davies
%A Jaime A. Yáñez
%N 1
%T Fear and concern about the outbreak of a world war: validation of an instrument in eight Latin American countries (Third World War scale)
%K War; Repercussions; Physical health; Mental health; Latin America; World war
%X 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).