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Traumatology, Vol. 13, No. 4, 75-90 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1534765607309962

Fearing Future Terrorism: Development, Validation, and Psychometric Testing of the Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale (TCS)

Samuel J. Sinclair

Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, jsincl{at}post.harvard.edu

Alice LoCicero

Endicott College, Beverly, Massachusetts

The purpose of this study was to develop a new tool, the Terrorism Catastrophizing Scale (TCS), rooted in terror management theory (TMT) and cognitive-behavioral theory (CBT). Participants were adults sampled from the general U.S. population (N = 503) using internet-based methods. Psychometric analysis indicates a 13-item version of the TCS, measuring three constructs (Rumination, Magnification, and Helplessness), met all tests of scaling assumptions and generally fit a 3-factor model using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.98), where CFI is the comparative fit index and TLI is the Tucker-Lewis index. Results also indicate that self-esteem and social connected-ness are negatively associated (P < .0001) with terrorism catastrophizing, as TMT would assume. Finally, terrorism catastrophizing is a significant predictor (P < .0001) of behavioral change and of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and physiological stress, as CBT would maintain. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

Key Words: terrorism • terrorism catastrophizing scale • TCS • anticipatory fear • terrorism threat • political violence


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