Measuring anxiety: reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale and its relationship with academic and mental health outcomes

ABSTRACT Previous studies investigating psychometric properties of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) provided contradictory results for different populations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reliability and validity of the GAD-7 with a sample of Turkish college students. Two hundred thirty-five Turkish university students completed the Turkish version of the GAD-7, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Inventory of Common Problems. Factor analyses did not support one general factor solution of the T-GAD-7. However, a respecified model, after correlating error terms, met the adequate criteria for model fit. Additionally, significant moderate correlations were found for the anxiety scores with perceived stress, academic problems, physical problems, and life satisfaction. The results indicated that college health professionals could benefit from the T-GAD-7 to assess anxiety levels of Turkish college students. Further discussions and implications were provided.