title: Development and evaluation of the Fe-BARQ: A new survey instrument for measuring behavior in domestic cats (Felis s. catus).
abstract: A questionnaire instrument for obtaining quantitative behavioral evaluations of pet cats from cat owners was developed and validated. Exploratory Factor Analysis of 2608 questionnaire responses to 149 behavioral questions/items extracted a total of 23 distinct factors that measured most of the more common dimensions of cat behavior. Seventeen of the 23 factors demonstrated adequate-high internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.712-0.923). Questionnaire validation was accomplished by determining: (a) whether owners' subjective ratings of the severity of their cat's behavior problems were associated with cats' actual scores on expected questionnaire factors, (b) whether expected associations between specific demographic and/or lifestyle characteristics and behavior were confirmed by cats' factor or item scores on the questionnaire, and (c) whether breed rankings based on owner-reported factor scores matched those previously derived from the opinions of experts (veterinarians). The results of these various tests confirmed the overall construct validity of the questionnaire.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6010, USA.
authors.forename: Deborah L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Duffy
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roseana T Diniz
authors.initials: RTD
authors.lastname: de Moura
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6010, USA. Electronic address: serpell@vet.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Serpell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000523:psychology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002415:Cats; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Behavior; Cats; Questionnaire; Validation study