Validation of the Turkish Fear of War Scale (FOWARS): Psychometric Evidence and Associations with Tolerance of Uncontrollability, Psychological Symptoms, and Personality Traits

Growing geopolitical instability has led to increasing concerns about the psychological impact of war beyond directly affected populations, highlighting the need for culturally appropriate instruments to assess fear of war. In this study, we evaluate the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Fear of War Scale (FOWARS) and examine its associations with sociodemographic characteristics and personality traits. A total of 643 adults across two independent samples (sample 1 = 360; sample 2 = 283) completed the FOWARS, the Tolerance of Uncontrollability Questionnaire, the Next Big Five Inventory (BFI-2), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and a sociodemographic information form. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original two-factor structure of the FOWARS, with the Turkish version demonstrating satisfactory structural validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, criterion-related validity, strong internal consistency, and measurement invariance across gender. Fear of war was negatively associated with tolerance of uncontrollability and positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. In addition, fear of war was significantly associated with gender, socioeconomic status, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness. These findings expand the understanding of the individual determinants of fear of war, underscoring the importance of developing targeted interventions for vulnerable populations.