The Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: a cross-cultural evaluation in Kuwait and United States.

Kuwaiti (n=460) and American (n=273) college students responded to the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale in Arabic and English languages, respectively. (Coefficients alpha were .93 and .95, while the item-remainder correlations ranged from .37 to .75 and from .33 to .81 for the Kuwaiti and American samples, respectively. Three factors were identified for the Kuwaiti sample: (1) Cognitive/Affective, (2) Somatic, and (3) Behavioral/Subjective Anxiety and two factors for the American sample: (1) Cognitive/Affective/Behavioral and (2) Somatic Anxiety. The Kuwaiti sample had significantly higher mean scores on 13 of the 20 items and on the total scale score than the American sample. Sex differences were significant in both countries. By and large, the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale seems viable in the American and Kuwaiti contexts.