The Factorial Structure of the State-Trait Anxiety Scale (STAI-Y)

Abstract

The current research aimed to investigate the factorial structure of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y) and assess its validity and reliability among students at Al-Mustansiriyah University. The scale, originally developed by Spielberger and colleagues in its revised version (Y) (1983) based on Spielberger’s theory, consists of 40 items .

After translating the scale and verifying the accuracy of the translation, a pilot study was conducted on a sample of 20 students. The scale was then administered to a stratified random sample of 240 students from Al-Mustansiriyah University. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed using the principal components method, and the Kaiser criterion was applied to determine the number of factors. Orthogonal rotation using Varimax was conducted, and the results indicated the presence of two subscales consistent with the original scale. All items loaded significantly on their respective factors except for two items, which had loadings below 0.30.For reliability, the test-retest method and internal consistency (using Cronbach’s alpha) were employed, yielding satisfactory results.