Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale: Factorial structure, reliability, and validity in times of Portugal's COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

Abstract: The present study examines the factor structure of a Portuguese version of the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale (PVD), designed to assess individual differences in chronic concerns about transmission of infectious diseases. Method: Data from a Portuguese convenience sample (n=1203), collected during the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Results: the scale revealed, through an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), a slight superiority of a three-factor model over the existing two-factor models of the 15-item original PVD and of the 10-item PVD established with another Portuguese sample (Ferreira et al., 2022). Conclusions: This higher level of differentiation in terms of a perceived resistance to infectious diseases could be explained by the pandemic context which may have differentiated the responses regarding the perception of Resistance. On the other hand, this new factor increases the comprehensive and evaluative dimension and implications of the construct assessed by PVD.