[Validation and factor analysis of a phobia scale. The French version of the Marks-Mathews fear questionnaire].

The fear questionnaire (Marks and Mathews) is presented in an original french translation. The questionnaire's validity, sensibility and reliability are studied in four groups: agoraphobia with panic attacks, obsession-compulsion, social phobia and control. The scale has a good empirical validity especially for agoraphobia measurement. However in our study the boundaries between obsession compulsion and social phobia appear questionable. Principal components analysis yields four factors similar to those found by Marks and Mathews: agoraphobia, blood and injury phobia, social phobia, and anxiety-depression (including one panic item).