Thesis
French
ID: <
10670/1.9npwoe>
Abstract
The literature suggests that fear of flying affects 10-40% of the population and can represent a significant source of anxiety for airline passengers. In some cases flying phobia can develop. Few studies have developed measures that adequately assess anxiety linked to flying; moreover, to our knowledge there is very little research on the behavioral manifestations linked to fear of flying. The research carried out for this thesis seeks to validate French translations of existing flying anxiety measures as well as develop tools for evaluating behavioral manifestations linked to fear of flying. Five studies has been conduct. The main objective of the first study was to translate and validate two existing flying anxiety scales: the Flight Anxiety Situation questionnaire (FAS) and the Flight Anxiety Modality questionnaire (FAM) created by Van Gerwen et al. (1999). The results demonstrated good psychometric validity for the French versions of these two questionnaires. The four other studies were orientated at the creation of a scale (Questionnaire des Comportements anxieux autour du Vol Aérien; QCVA) measuring behaviors associated with anxiety and flying and to evaluate the validity of such a measure. The results demonstrated partial validity; behaviors were clearly delineated into categories of hypervigilance, anticipation, substance consumption, social support seeking, information seeking/situational control, and proactive behaviors centered on the individual. Within the phobic group, those who also suffered from agoraphobia or generalized anxiety disorder furthermore adopted specific behavior. Additional studies are suggested to further explore the revealed factors.