Developing worry beliefs scale and examining worry beliefs in terms of various variables

In this study, it was aimed to develop the Worry Beliefs Scale and to examine the worry beliefs in terms of various variables. In this direction; In the first stage, after qualitative interviews, an item pool was prepared and expert opinions were obtained. The 55-item scale was applied to 809 students studying at Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University in the 2021-2022 academic year. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on the obtained data. SPPS 26.0 package program was used in the analysis of the data and the scale; It was formed to explain 59.375% of the total variance with 27 items, 3 factors. It was observed that the total item correlations of the scale items ranged from .33 to .61. After the exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis was performed and it was observed that the coefficients of the item factor load values ranged from .58 to .92. The scale was validated with 3 factors and the factors were respectively; positive beliefs about worrying, the belief that worrying is dangerous or harmful, and the belief that worry cannot be controlled. In order to determine the criterion validity of the scale, all dimensions were compared with the sub-dimensions of the Consequences of Worry Scale and the total score of the Positive Beliefs Related to Worry Scale and sufficient suitability was determined. To determine the reliability of the scale, the Cronbach Alpha and Spearman Brown coefficients were calculated and obtained as .891 and .751, respectively. In the second stage of the study, the difference between the variables was examined; t test was used for binary variables, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for 3 or more variables. In the analysis of the differences between the variables; While a significant difference was found in the variables of gender, department, education level, birth order; No significant difference was found according to the variables of age level, family integrity status, mother's living situation, father's life situation, the place where the majority of life was spent, perceived social economic level, psychological trauma, physical trauma and psychological help. Key Words: Worry, Worry beliefs, Scale development