The Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: Results for 9,031 Saudi Students

Abstract

The Kuwait University Anxiety Scale was administered to 9,031 male ( n = 4,143) and female ( n = 4,888) Saudis. They were students in secondary schools ( n = 4,793) and university undergraduates ( n = 4,238) recruited from scattered geographical regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ages ranged from 15 to 26 years, mean age 19.5 yr. ( SD = 2.8). The scale displayed good alphas (from .85 to .88), retest reliability (from .94 to .95), as well as good criterion-related validity (from .63 to .73) against the Trait subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Three highly loaded factors were extracted: Cognitive/Affective, Subjective, and Somatic anxiety. Sex differences overshadow age differences as sex-related differences were significant between the age groups from 16 to 25 years, i.e., females attained higher mean scores than their male peers. Saudi students attained means similar to those of Kuwaiti students, but both groups have significantly higher mean scores than American and Spanish college students. By and large, the scale can be recommended for use in research among students in the Saudi context.