Psychometric properties of the French and English versions of the Claustrophobia Questionnaire (CLQ)

Research suggests that Claustrophobia, defined as the fear of enclosed spaces, may be better conceptualized as two separate, but related fears: (1) the fear of suffocation, and (2) the fear of restriction. The Claustrophobia Questionnaire (CLQ) is a self-report measure designed to assess these two fears. The original English version of the CLQ has demonstrated excellent psychometric properties. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate a French version of the CLQ for use in clinical and research settings and to replicate the psychometric findings of previous investigations of the English CLQ. Language-appropriate versions of the CLQ, as well as self-report measures of phobic, anxious and depressive symptomatology were distributed to undergraduate students at three Montréal, Québec universities. Results show that the CLQ possesses strong psychometric properties in both languages, and that the English and French versions of the CLQ appear to measure identical constructs. These findings are discussed in terms of proposed applications of the CLQ.