The social phobia and anxiety inventory: psychometric properties in a Spanish sample

This study is a validation of the Spanish version of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory using a nonclinical sample (198 participants) and a clinical sample (72 participants with social phobia). The factor structure and concurrent validity with Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Avoidance and Distress scales were analyzed. The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory demonstrated good concurrent validity, showing statistically significant relationships with Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Avoidance and Distress. Results confirmed the rationale for the division of the SPAI into two subscales. Results also demonstrated the utility of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for differentiating between a nonclinical sample and participants with a social phobia, and its adequate reliability.     

The psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure in social anxiety disorder

The Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (IPSM) was developed to assess hypersensitivity to interpersonal rejection, a suggested trait of depression-prone personality (Aust NZ J Psychiatry 23 (1989) 341). Although studies of the IPSM and interpersonal rejection sensitivity have primarily been conducted in depressed populations, it is important to investigate interpersonal rejection sensitivity as a relevant construct in the assessment of social anxiety. This study examined the psychometric properties of the IPSM in treatment-seeking individuals with social anxiety disorder. The results of this investigation support the convergent and divergent validity and internal consistency of the IPSM in socially anxious individuals. An exploratory factor analysis of the scale was also conducted after the original factor and subscale structure was shown to be a poor fit for the present data. Three factors emerged (Interpersonal Worry and Dependency, Low Self-Esteem, and Unassertive Interpersonal Behavior), and 29 items were retained. Because they demonstrated negative factor loadings on Factor 2, it is suggested that the scoring for four items of the original IPSM be reversed. In summary, the revised IPSM assesses three aspects of interpersonal rejection sensitivity and appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for its assessment in social anxiety disorder.     

Cognitive functioning self-assessment scale (CFSS): preliminary psychometric data

The cognitive functioning is included in the concept of quality of life. Many times well-being remains incomplete because of cognitive difficulties, that people are not always able to properly recognize and explain. Nonetheless, only few instruments, specifically thought for non-clinical neurologic populations, are available to measure them. The present study is an attempt at providing a self-report instrument--cognitive functioning self-assessment scale (CFSS)--to measure the individual cognitive functioning in general population. The CFSS is itemized into18 questions to which participants answer on a five-point scale. Two hundred and eighty-two patients in a General Practitioner study have filled-in the CFSS together with a clinical and socio-demographic data form. Explorative factor analysis, using principal component analysis, suggests the consideration of the CFSS as one-dimensional; internal reliability = 0.856. Non-parametric tests have shown that women report a worse cognitive functioning than men, while no differences emerged in relation to age, manual prevalence, presence of an illness or being in pharmacological treatment. Although further verifications are necessary, the CFSS seems to be a promising self-report cognitive functioning measure.     

Health anxiety in children: development and psychometric properties of the Childhood Illness Attitude Scales

The course of severe anxiety surrounding health issues is unknown. The available literature suggests that adults who are overly anxious about health issues often interpret or misinterpret their bodily signs and symptoms to be indicative of a serious illness. The construct of health anxiety has not been examined in children and, to date, there has not been an instrument developed for this purpose. The Illness Attitude Scales is one of the most commonly used instruments for evaluating fears, beliefs, and attitudes that are associated with hypochondriasis and abnormal illness behaviour in adults. We sought to adapt the Illness Attitude Scales for use with children ages 8-15 years. The adapted Illness Attitude Scales was renamed the Childhood Illness Attitude Scales. Revisions to the adult version consisted of simplification of language, revision of Likert scale (i.e. 5-point to 3-point scale), and the addition of 7 questions to evaluate the role parents/guardians play in facilitating medical attention or treatment. Correlations between Childhood Illness Attitude Scales total scores and other self-report measures were supportive of the construct-related validity of the Childhood Illness Attitude Scales and suggested that it is a useful measure of health anxiety in school-age children. Practical and theoretical implications of the present results are discussed.     

The Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: psychometric properties

This study was undertaken to construct the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale in two comparable Arabic and English versions. The intent was to provide a research tool as well as a measure of predisposition to develop anxiety in general among adults and adolescents. The scale is comprised by 20 brief statements answered on a 4-point intensity scale, anchored by 1: Rarely and 4: Always. Factor analysis yielded three high-loaded factors of Cognitive/Affective, Behavioral/Subjective, and Somatic Anxiety, with moderate interfactor correlations. Item-remainder correlations ranged from .27 to .74. Reliabilities ranged from .88 to .92 (alpha) and between .70 and .93 (test-retest), denoting good internal consistency and stability. Criterion-related validity of the scale ranged between .70 and .88 (5 criteria), while the loadings of the scale on a general factor of anxiety were .93 and .95 in two factor analyses, demonstrating the scale's criterion-related and factorial validity. Discriminant validity of the scale was demonstrated. The scale correlated .65 with scores on the Beck Depression scale. Male adolescents attained a higher mean score than male undergraduates. Females have significantly higher mean scores than their male counterparts. Kuwaiti norms (N = 4,660) were reported. An English version of the scale is available.     

The Reasons for Living Inventory: psychometric properties

The test-retest reliability, internal consistency reliability, normative, and item analysis data of the Reasons for Living Inventory were investigated in a sample of 116 college students. The inventory has six subscales, each of which assesses a category of adaptive beliefs and expectations considered reasons for not committing suicide. The inventory was administered twice, with a 3-week interval between testings. Test-retest coefficients for the men, women, and total sample were moderate to high. The alpha coefficients and item-total correlations for the subscales and the total inventory provided strong support for internal consistency. 26 items were consistently endorsed by 30% or more of our total sample as "extremely important," while only four were suggested as "not at all important" reasons for not committing suicide.     

The scale of ethnic experience: development and psychometric properties

The Scale of Ethnic Experience (SEE) is a new self-report instrument designed to measure multiple ethnicity-related cognitive constructs across ethnic groups. We present the development and psychometric properties here. We generated and refined an item pool using expert consultants and culturally diverse focus groups. We derived a final 32-item version of the SEE based on separate factor analyses of data from college students in 4 ethnic groups: African Americans, Caucasian Americans, Filipino Americans, and Mexican Americans. Four factors were consistent across the ethnic groups: Ethnic Identity, Perceived Discrimination, Mainstream Comfort, and Social Affiliation. We found evidence of test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and criterion and construct validity for all groups. Finally, we cross-validated the factor structure of the SEE in a culturally diverse sample. Results support the reliability and validity of the SEE as a multidimensional measure of ethnicity-related cognitive constructs that can be used across American ethnic groups.     

Exploring the psychometric properties and construct validity of the MCMI-III anxiety and avoidant personality scales

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI; Millon, 1983) is a commonly used self-report instrument designed to aid in the assessment of Axis I and Axis II disorders. Concerns have been expressed regarding the procedures used in the normative research for the current version of the MCMI (MCMI-III; Millon, 1994) leading to a call for additional validity research on the MCMI-III (Retzlaff, 1996). In this study, we investigated the psychometric properties of the MCMI-III's Anxiety and Avoidant personality scales in a sample of patients diagnosed with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) anxiety disorders. Our results suggest that the MCMI-III Avoidant scale is reliable (r =.89) and it was found to demonstrate appropriate convergent and divergent validity with other self-report measures. The MCMI-III Anxiety scale also showed adequate reliability (r =.78); however, our findings raise some concerns about the discriminant validity of this scale. A scale composed of the MCMI-III core anxiety items was found to have better discriminant validity. These findings are consistent with those reported by other researchers regarding the relationship between self-report measures of anxiety, avoidance, and depression. We conclude that the MCMI-III measures of anxiety and avoidance are consistent with other measures of these constructs and may provide valuable clinical information in this regard.     

The Multidimensional Child and Adolescent Depression Scale: psychometric properties

Based on previous factor analyses of child and adolescent depression inventories, the following eight basic dimensions were identified, i.e., Pessimism, Weak Concentration, Sleep Problems, Anhedonia, Fatigue, Loneliness, Low Self-esteem, and Somatic Complaints. Each dimension was assessed by five items, so the Multidimensional Child and Adolescent Depression Scale has 40 brief statements answered on a 3-point intensity scale, i.e., None, Some, and A lot. The eight dimensions have good factorial validity and acceptable to good alpha and test-retest reliability, and good criterion-related validity using three self-report depression scales. The total scale score has from good to high coefficients of reliability and validity. The highest mean scores were on Fatigue and Anhedonia for Kuwaiti boys and girls, respectively, while the Loneliness subscale has the lowest mean score for both sexes. Girls attained significantly higher mean scores than boys for the total score as well as on all dimensions, with the exception of weak concentration. The scale has two compatible Arabic and English versions. It was designed to be useful in defining the profile of children's and adolescents' depression.     

The impact of coping and resilience on anxiety among older Australians

Objective: This study aims to explore the relationships between various coping types, resilience, and anxiety among older Australians. Particular attention is paid to whether resilience moderates coping's effect on anxiety. Method: A total of 324 Australians aged between 55 and 90 (M = 66.7, SD = 8.6) were surveyed as part of the study. Moderation was assessed using structural equation modelling and plots of simple slopes. Results: Significant negative correlations were detected between anxiety and both proactive coping and preventive coping. Higher levels of resilience were associated with lower levels of anxiety. Age moderated both proactive coping and reflective coping's effects on anxiety and gender moderated avoidance coping's effect on anxiety. Resilience was found to moderate the relationships between proactive coping and anxiety, and instrumental support seeking and anxiety. For those high in resilience, there was little association between anxiety and proactive coping or anxiety and instrumental support seeking. Among low resilience individuals, there was a negative association between proactive coping and anxiety, but a positive association between instrumental support seeking and anxiety. Conclusion: Resilience, proactive coping, and preventive coping are all important predictors of anxiety among older people. Among those who are low in resilience, proactively coping with stress may be particularly important for good mental health. The results of the study highlight the complexity of the relationship between resilience, coping, and anxiety among older people.     

Tripartite model of anxiety and depression: psychometric evidence and taxonomic implications

We review psychometric and other evidence relevant to mixed anxiety-depression. Properties of anxiety and depression measures, including the convergent and discriminant validity of self- and clinical ratings, and interrater reliability, are examined in patient and normal samples. Results suggest that anxiety and depression can be reliably and validly assessed; moreover, although these disorders share a substantial component of general affective distress, they can be differentiated on the basis of factors specific to each syndrome. We also review evidence for these specific factors, examining the influence of context and scale content on ratings, factor analytic studies, and the role of low positive affect in depression. With these data, we argue for a tripartite structure consisting of general distress, physiological hyperarousal (specific anxiety), and anhedonia (specific depression), and we propose a diagnosis of mixed anxiety-depression.     

A parent-report measure of children's anxiety: psychometric properties and comparison with child-report in a clinic and normal sample

This study examined the psychometric properties of the parent version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P); 484 parents of anxiety disordered children and 261 parents in a normal control group participated in the study. Results of confirmatory factor analysis provided support for six intercorrelated factors, that corresponded with the child self-report as well as with the classification of anxiety disorders by DSM-IV (namely separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia, panic/agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and fear of physical injuries). A post-hoc model in which generalized anxiety functioned as the higher order factor for the other five factors described the data equally well. The reliability of the subscales was satisfactory to excellent. Evidence was found for both convergent and divergent validity: the measure correlated well with the parent report for internalizing symptoms, and lower with externalizing symptoms. Parent-child agreement ranged from 0.41 to 0.66 in the anxiety-disordered group, and from 0.23 to 0.60 in the control group. The measure differentiated significantly between anxiety-disordered children versus controls, and also between the different anxiety disorders except GAD. The SCAS-P is recommended as a screening instrument for normal children and as a diagnostic instrument in clinical settings.     

The Beck Inventory: psychometric properties in university students

The psychometric properties of the Beck Inventory (BI), a revised, copyrighted version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), were investigated in 204 university students. Two-week test-retest reliability was .90, coefficient alpha was .87, concurrent validity using the BDI as the criterion was .94, and the correlation between level of depression as measured by the two instruments was .86. The mean score on the BI was significantly but only one-half point lower than that on the BDI. Individual items were all highly and significantly correlated, but a significantly lower BI mean score occurred on the Sadness, Suicidal Ideas and Insomnia items. Depression was not significantly related to demographic variables.     

The attitude to personality disorder questionnaire: psychometric properties and results

Attitudes of professional psychiatric staff to personality disordered patients are notoriously pessimistic. This paper reports the findings from: (a) an exploratory survey to assess the components of attitude to personality disorder; (b) an assessment of the test-retest reliability of the attitude to personality disorder questionnaire; and (c) a confirmatory factor analysis with a third sample. Factor analysis of the feelings aroused in nurses by patients demonstrated an underlying structure consisting of enjoyment, security, acceptance, sense of purpose, and enthusiasm. This structure was confirmed in a subsequent sample. Test-retest reliabilities of the instrument were good to excellent. The scale has a robust structure, good psychometric properties, and is useful for outcome studies, benchmarking between units, and regular audits of staff attitude. Full details of the scale are provided, with normative data.     

The Couples Emotion Rating Form: psychometric properties and theoretical associations

The Couples Emotion Rating Form assesses 3 types of negative emotion that are salient during times of relationship conflict. Hard emotion includes feeling angry and aggravated, soft emotion includes feeling hurt and sad, and flat emotion includes feeling bored and indifferent. In Study 1, scales measuring hard and soft emotion were validated by observation of 82 married couples in a series of conflict conversations. Self-report ratings for each emotion corresponded with observer ratings of the same emotion, and the emotion scales produced expected correlations with negative affect. In Study 2, a measure of flat emotion was added to the instrument, and 1,239 married people completed questionnaires. The rating form fit an expected 3-dimensional factor structure, and each scale correlated with a set of theoretically linked constructs. Hard emotion was associated with power assertion, pursuit of self-centered goals, and negative communication. Soft emotion was associated with expressions of vulnerability, pursuit of prosocial goals, and positive communication. Flat emotion was distinct from other emotions in being associated with withdrawal.     

The physical activity and sport anxiety scale (PASAS): Scale development and psychometric analysis

Research suggests that social anxiety may be elicited in athletic or sporting situations, resulting in decreased physical activity due to avoidance behavior. Given the myriad physical and psychological health consequences of a non-active lifestyle, valid assessment of social anxiety and avoidance in this domain is warranted. However, none of the common measures of social anxiety appear to assess social anxiety in physical activity or sporting domains. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a brief measure of social anxiety in physical activities and sports. A 16-item self-report questionnaire, the Physical Activity and Sport Anxiety Scale (PASAS), was extracted from a larger pool on empirical and theoretical grounds. The PASAS demonstrated excellent internal consistency across a number of samples, and excellent temporal stability. The PASAS also demonstrated good convergent and divergent validity, and is related to self-perceived performance biases as postulated by cognitive-behavioral models of social anxiety.     

The liebowitz social anxiety scale as a self-report instrument: a preliminary psychometric analysis

The Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS) is a commonly used clinician-administered instrument. The present study reports on the properties of a self-report version of the LSAS (LSAS-SR). About 175 participants diagnosed with social phobia participated in the study. The LSAS-SR showed overall good psychometric properties as indicated by the results of test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and convergent and discriminant validity. Furthermore, the scale was sensitive to treatment change. The construct validity of the LSAS-SR, however, remains to be further explored. These findings support the utility of the LSAS-SR, which has the advantage of saving valuable clinician time compared to the clinician-administered version.