The factor structure, reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Van Dream Anxiety Scale.

Background/purpose: Dream emotions and contents are associated with psychological well-being. Dream disturbances, such as frequent nightmares and dream anxiety, are associated with a variety of psychopathological conditions. Therefore, it is important to consider nightmares and the resulting dream anxiety. To address this issue, the Van Dream Anxiety Scale (VDAS) was designed especially for measuring nightmare frequency and dream anxiety caused by frightening dreams. As a Chinese version of VDAS may be helpful in promoting study of nightmare and dream anxiety among Chinese population, in the current study, we sought to develop a Chinese version of the VDAS (CVDAS).

Methods: We translated the VDAS into Chinese. To evaluate its validity and reliability, a sample of 1,081 Chinese college students from two universities answered the CVDAS, GAD-7, PHQ-9 and EPQ-R-N. Ninety of them answered the CVDAS twice. We also conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to explore the structure of CVDAS.

Results: Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.926), split-half reliability (equal-length Spearman-Brown coefficient was 0.938) and good test-retest reliability (the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.942 and t=-1.478, P=0.143) of the CVDAS was presented. Exploratory factor analyses indicated a two-factor structure: sleep-related disturbances caused by nightmares and dysfunction caused by nightmares. Convergent and divergent validities were acceptable.

Conclusion: The CVDAS shows promise for the measurement of nightmare frequency and specific dream anxiety in Chinese population. Future study should confirm the reliability and validity in the clinical population and further improve this scale.