Design and Validation of a Scale of Concern About Being a Victim of Robbery when Withdrawing Money from an ATM or Bank (EPre-RD) in Peruvian Citizens

Abstract

Citizen insecurity has become a problem that threatens people’s mental health, due to its negative impact on the well-being and quality of life of the population. In Peru, one of the most frequent forms of crime is robbery, which occurs when the victim withdraws money from an ATM or bank. Therefore, it is necessary to have instruments to measure the magnitude of the impact of these events on mental health. To design and validate a scale of concern about being a robbery victim when withdrawing money from an ATM or bank in Peruvian citizens. 759 Peruvian citizens between 18 and 68 years of age (women = 56.65%, mean age = 27.64, SD = 8.25) participated. In addition to the EPre-RD scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2 (GAD-2) was applied. Evidence of content-based validity was obtained from the criteria of expert judges; the internal structure was analyzed under a factor-analytic approach; and validity based on association with other variables was explored by calculating Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Finally, reliability was analyzed through the alpha coefficient. The EPre-RD items received a favorable evaluation in respect of representativeness, relevance, and clarity. In addition, evidence of a unidimensional structure was found, both from the exploratory factor analysis and the confirmatory factor analysis, and so was a positive association with anxiety. Finally, reliability obtained an adequate value. The EPre-RD is an instrument with adequate psychometric properties to be used as a measure of the emotional impact of worry about being a victim of a robbery when withdrawing money from an ATM or bank in Peruvian citizens.