Psychometric Meta‐Analysis of the English Version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory

This meta‐analysis reviewed 192 scholarly works from 1993 to 2013 using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck & Steer, 1993 ). Aggregated internal consistency (coefficient alpha) was .91 (k = 117), and test–retest reliability was .65 (k = 18). Convergent comparisons were robust across 33 different anxiety instruments and the Beck Depression Inventory–II (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996 ). Structural validity primarily supported the original 2‐factor solution proposed by Beck and Steer ( 1993 ), and diagnostic accuracy varied according to the sample size and criterion cutoff score.     

Common and specific dimensions of self-reported anxiety and depression: the BDI-II versus the BDI-IA

The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) [Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A. & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.] and Anxiety Inventory (BAI) [Beck, A. T. & Steer, R. A. (1993a). Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.] were administered to 840 outpatients who were diagnosed with various types of psychiatric disorders to determine whether the general symptom compositions and relative amounts of variance of the common and specific dimensions of self-reported anxiety and depression for these instruments would be comparable to those that had been found by Steer et al. [Steer, R. A., Clark, D. A., Beck, A. T. & Ranieri, W. F. (1995). Common and specific dimensions of self-reported anxiety and depression: A replication. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 542–545.] with the BAI and amended Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-IA) [Beck, A. T. & Steer, R. A. (1993b). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.]. A Schmid–Leiman transformation was used with the iterated-principal-factor pattern matrix of the BAI and the BDI-II loadings and indicated that the overall symptom compositions and relative amounts of variance that were explained by the one common and two specific anxiety and depression dimensions were comparable to those previously found with the BDI-IA.     

Ruminative Thoughts and Their Relation to Depression and Anxiety1

Although past research has shown a correlation between ruminative response style and depression (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), the basic relationships among amount of ruminative thoughts, depression, and anxiety has not been established. Scores from the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck & Steer, 1993), and the McIntosh and Martin (1992) Rumination Scale were analyzed for 199 participants. The correlation between rumination and depression was .33, between rumination and anxiety was .32, and between depression and anxiety was .56. The partial correlation between rumination and depression (controlling for anxiety level) was .20, and the partial correlation between rumination and anxiety (controlling for depression level) was .17. The finding that rumination is not unique to depression but is also associated with the specific negative affect of anxiety alone might also suggest new treatments of these two prevalent disorders.     

The depressive personality disorder inventory and current depressive symptoms: implications for the assessment of depressive personality

The Depressive Personality Disorder Inventory (DPDI; Huprich, Margrett, Barthelemy, & Fine, 1996; see Appendix) was created to assess Depressive Personality Disorder in clinical and nonclinical samples. Since its creation, the DPDI has been used in multiple studies, and the psychometric properties of the measure have generally supported its reliability, convergent validity, and construct validity; however, evidence for the measure's discriminant validity has been mixed. Specifically, the DPDI tends to correlate highly with measures of current depressive symptoms, which limits its efficacy in differentiating current depressive symptoms from a depressive personality structure. A principal components analysis of 362 individuals who completed both the DPDI and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) found that 49% of the variance was accounted for in two components. Seven items from the DPDI loaded more strongly on the first component composed of many BDI-II items. These items were removed in order to create a measure believed to assess DPD without the confounding influence of current depressive symptomology. Principal components analysis of the revised measure yielded three components, accounting for 46% of the variance. The revised DPDI was used to calculate convergent, discriminant, and construct validity coefficients from measures used in former studies. Virtually no improvement in the validity coefficients was observed. It is concluded that assessing DPD via self-report is limited in its utility.     

The Beck Anxiety Inventory-Trait (BAIT): a measure of dispositional anxiety not contaminated by dispositional depression

We describe development of the Beck Anxiety Inventory-Trait (BAIT), a measure of trait anxiety. In Study 1 with 191 undergraduates, the BAIT correlated higher with another trait-anxiety measure than with state anxiety and trait depressiveness and lower with depressiveness than the other trait-anxiety measure did. In Study 2 (Ns of 149 undergraduates initially and 107 at 3 weeks later), the BAIT demonstrated convergent validity against the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) and self-rated trait anxiety plus discriminant validity against abstract curiosity. In Study 3 (Ns of 161 undergraduates initially and 121 at 3 weeks later), the BAIT correlated more highly with another anxiety measure than with depression, stress, positive affect, and negative affect. It also showed good internal consistency across studies and high stability in Studies 2 and 3, higher than the BAI's in Study 2. Factor analyses across studies all supported 2 factors, 1 Somatic and 1 Subjective.     

Sociotropy and autonomy: the nature of vulnerability

Sociotropy and autonomy are 2 personality dimensions related to an individual's vulnerability to depression (A. T. Beck, 1983). The Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale (D. A. Clark, R. A. Steer, A. T. Beck, & L. Ross, 1995) and the Personal Style Inventory (C. J. Robins et al., 1994) were developed to assess these personality dimensions independent of each other. The present study is an examination of the relationship between the 2 scales and an attempt to specify the various factors that emerge when the items of the 2 scales are integrated. Participants (N = 514) responded to the Personal Style Inventory, the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck & R. A. Steer, 1987). A principal component analysis on all of the items of the 2 scales revealed a four-factor structure (2 sociotropy and 2 autonomy). The author examined the relationships between depression, the 4 factors, and the 2 original scales and discussed the results in the context of vulnerability to depression.     

Structure of the Computer-Assisted Beck Anxiety Inventory With Psychiatric Inpatients

To determine the dimensions of self-reported anxiety in psychiatric inpatients, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck & Steer, 1990) was administered by computer to 250 inpatients diagnosed with mixed disorders. An iterated principal-factor analysis was performed on the intercorrelations among the 21 BAI items using a Promax rotation. Two factors were found representing somatic and subjective symptoms of anxiety. These dimensions significantly matched those previously described by Beck, Epstein, Brown, and Steer (1988) for outpatients diagnosed with mixed psychiatric disorders. The generalizability of the somatic and subjective dimensions for inpatients and outpatients is discussed.     

Further validation of the IDAS: evidence of convergent, discriminant, criterion, and incremental validity

The authors explicated the validity of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS; D. Watson et al., 2007) in 2 samples (306 college students and 605 psychiatric patients). The IDAS scales showed strong convergent validity in relation to parallel interview-based scores on the Clinician Rating version of the IDAS; the mean convergent correlations were .51 and .62 in the student and patient samples, respectively. With the exception of the Well-Being Scale, the scales also consistently demonstrated significant discriminant validity. Furthermore, the scales displayed substantial criterion validity in relation to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) mood and anxiety disorder diagnoses in the patient sample. The authors identified particularly clear and strong associations between (a) major depression and the IDAS General Depression, Dysphoria and Well-Being scales, (b) panic disorder and IDAS Panic, (c) posttraumatic stress disorder and IDAS Traumatic Intrusions, and (d) social phobia and IDAS Social Anxiety. Finally, in logistic regression analyses, the IDAS scales showed significant incremental validity in predicting several DSM-IV diagnoses when compared against the Beck Depression Inventory-II (A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (A. T. Beck & R. A. Steer, 1990).     

Perception of parental acceptance in women with binge eating disorder

The authors contribute to the validating literature for binge eating disorder (BED) by examining perceptions of parents and satisfaction with life among obese women with and without BED. Participants were female patients, recruited through a private medical clinic, who were assigned to groups on the basis of body mass index (BMI) and scores on the Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns (QEWP; R. L. Spitzer et al., 1992). Groups consisted of (a) obese women with BED (n = 32), (b) obese women who had no eating disorders (n = 51), and (c) nonobese women with no eating disorders (n = 30). All participants completed the Parental Acceptance/Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ; R. P. Rohner, 1986), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; J. Fischer & K. Corcoran, 1994), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; A. T. Beck & R. A. Steer, 1987). Obese women with BED perceived their fathers as more rejecting than did women in the other groups. Moreover, obese women with BED perceived their fathers as significantly more rejecting than their mothers. The BED group indicated lower satisfaction with life and higher levels of depression than the groups without eating disorders. These findings further validate the diagnostic category of BED. Obese women with BED appear to be a distinct subgroup of the obese population. The results indicate a need for further assessment of the father-daughter relationship in connection to BED and other eating disorders.     

Common and Specific Dimensions of Self-Reported Anxiety and Depression in Adolescent Outpatients

To investigate the common and specific dimensions of anxiety and depression in adolescents, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation 1993a) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. Manual for Beck Depression Inventory (2nd Ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation 1996) were administered to 840 adolescent (13–17 years old) outpatients who were diagnosed with various types of psychiatric disorders. A Schmid-Leiman transformation was used with the iterated-principal-factor pattern matrix of the BAI and the BDI-II loadings. The amounts of orthogonalized common variance that were explained by the one second-order (56%), one first-order depression (22%), and two first-order anxiety (22%) dimensions were comparable to those previously reported for adult psychiatric outpatients. The results were discussed as supporting the construct of negative affectivity that is proposed in L. A. Clark and Watson’s (1991) tripartite model of anxiety and depression.

Why young people do not kill themselves: the reasons for living inventory for adolescents

Assessed the reliability, validity, and predictive power of a new measure, the Reasons for Living Inventory for Adolescents (RFL-A; Osman et al., 1998). A group of 206 (101 boys and 105 girls) adolescent psychiatric inpatients completed the RFL-A, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for Adolescents (Butcher et al., 1992), and a packet of self-report measures. Additional information about the patients including diagnosis and suicide status were obtained from their medical records. It was determined that the RFL-A is a valid and reliable measure of adolescent suicide risk potential. Additionally, the RFL-A possesses better predictive power than the Beck Hopelessness Scale (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974). A discussion of the clinical and research utility of the RFL-A is included along with suggestions for future research.     

Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity of the Farsi version of the Oxford Happiness Inventory

This study examined the reliability and preliminary evidence for validity of a Farsi (Persian) version of the Oxford Happiness Inventory with 309 undergraduate students (161 women and 148 men). Participants completed the Farsi versions of four subscales of the Oxford Happiness Inventory, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Depression-Happiness Scale. Analyses indicated that the Farsi version of the Oxford Happiness Scale has reliability as a measure of well-being and provided some preliminary evidence of construct validity.     

The influence of gender role typing on the expression of depressive symptoms

This study investigated the influence of gender role typing on the expression of depressive symptoms. Previous research (Padesky & Hammen, 1981) has found that men and women differ in their expression of depressive symptoms and has proposed gender role expectations as a possible explanation. This study considered gender role typing as a possible moderating factor of depressive symptoms. Undergraduates (99 men, 360 women) were divided into masculine and feminine groups according to the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Gender role typing differences emerged on the BDI with feminine subjects reporting more emotional symptoms than masculine subjects (p<.05) and masculine subjects reporting more withdrawal and somatic symptoms than feminine subjects (p<.05). The results are consistent with the hypothesis that depressive symptoms are influenced by societal expectations. Future research should consider the influence of gender role typing on the expression of depressive symptoms.     

Self-reported depression in younger and older pregnant inner-city adolescents

Younger (14- to 17-year-old) inner-city adolescent mothers have been reported by Colletta (1983) as being more depressed than older (18- to 19-year-old) inner-city adolescent mothers. To determine whether this finding applies to pregnant adolescents, the revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979; Beck & Steer, 1987) was administered to 175 (65.1%) Black, 64 (23.8%) Hispanic, and 30 (11.1%) White inner-city adolescents during their 28th week of pregnancy. The sample was divided into 129 (48.0%) younger (13- to 15-year-old) adolescents and 140 (52.0%) older (16- to 18-year-old) adolescents. The mean profiles of the 21 BDI symptoms were comparable for both age groups, and it was concluded that younger and older pregnant inner-city adolescents describe similar levels of self-reported depression.     

Factor structure and psychometric characteristics of the beck depression inventory-II

The present study evaluated the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) in the nonclinical sample of 230 young adults. The BDI-II is a revised version of the BDI-IA. We evaluated the fit of three alternative models to the sample data, using confirmatory factor analysis. Results provided support for the fit of the oblique three-factor model. The BDI-II and factor scales had satisfactory coefficient alpha indices. We obtained gender differences on the BDI-II item, total, and factor scale scores. We examined the relations of the BDI-II with demographic variables and with other self-report measures of social desirability, anxiety, depression, stress, and self-esteem. We also examined the issue of whether specific self-report measures of anxiety and depression assess separate or different constructs. We discuss the limitations of the present study.     

Generalized anxiety and panic disorders: Response to Cox, Cohen, Direnfeld, and Swinson (1996)

Contrary to the contention of Cox, Cohen, Direnfeld and Swinson (1996, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 949–954) that the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck & Steer, 1993, Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory) measures primarily symptoms associated with panic attacks rather than anxiety in general, we propose that the higher level of anxiety found in patients with panic disorders not only is not an artifact of the BAI's symptom content, but patients with panic disorders truly have more anxiety than patients with other types of anxiety disorders. Furthermore, the BAI contains symptoms present in other anxiety disorders, besides panic disorder, and specifically includes 11 symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The BAI and revised Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS-R; Riskind, Beck, Brown & Steer, 1987, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 175, 474–479) scores of 274 (69%) outpatients with panic disorders and 123 (31%) outpatients with GAD were found to differentiate these two diagnostic groups equally and significantly. The panic disorder outpatients had higher scores on both the BAI and the HARS-R than did the GAD patients. Thus, Cox et al.'s (1996) speculation about the BAI's yielding spuriously high levels of anxiety in patients with panic disorders revives an important issue relevant to the relation of panic disorder to GAD.     

Overcoming Negative Aspects of Perfectionism through Group Treatment

The tendency to hold and pursue excessively high standards for oneself and for others can interfere with academic achievement. Counsellors who work in university settings are often presented with students whose capabilities do not reflect their levels of achievement. This study reports on the evaluation of an eight-week group intervention designed to help university students shift from negative and often debilitating perfectionism to positive and enhancing perfectionism. The group treatment focused on changing attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and interpersonal interactions affected by perfectionism using combined cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal approaches. Standardized measures, including the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al., BDI-II manual. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation, 1996), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck and Steer, Beck Anxiety Inventory: Manual. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation, 1993), and the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt and Flett, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 60, 456–470, 1991a), provided data for pre- and post analysis of a treatment group (n = 30), and comparison groups of students attending group programs on career planning (n = 30) and attending psychology classes (n = 30). Results show that students participating in the treatment group significantly reduced their levels of depression, anxiety, and perfectionism in comparison to students who did not attend the treatment program. Implications of the findings suggest the importance of considering perfectionism on a continuum of negative and positive influences while helping students to address the intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of perfectionism.     

A Comparison of Firefighters and Police Officers: The Influence of Gender and Relationship Status

Differences between fire department and police department personnel (N = 190) concerning work‐related stressors and depression were examined with regard to gender and relationship status. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory—II (A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996) and the Distressing Event Questionnaire (E. S. Kubany, M. B. Leisen, A. S. Kaplan, & M. P. Kelly, 2000). Recommendations are made concerning what crisis theories, both traditional and nontraditional, counselors should be aware of, as well as how simply working with trauma survivors can be traumatizing. E. Erikson's psychosocial stages (as cited in J. R. Studer, 2007) are considered in the framework of adult development.     

The Perceived Stress Scale: Factor structure and relation to depression symptoms in a psychiatric sample

The present study sought to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) when administered to psychiatric patients. We also examined predictive validity of the PSS by assessing the association between the Perceived Stress Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. A heterogeneous sample of 96 psychiatric patients (48 men, 48 women) completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Beck Depression Inventory. Factor analysis of the PSS established that the scale consisted of two factors. The first factor was comprised primarily of items reflecting adaptational symptoms. In contrast, the second factor consisted of items reflecting coping ability. Both factors had an adequate degree of internal consistency. Finally, a series of regression analyses predicting depression found that both factors accounted for unique variance in depression scores in women, but only the first factor accounted for unique variance in men. It is concluded that the PSS is a multidimensional and internally consistent measure of perceived stress.This research was supported by Grant 410-91-1690 from the social sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as well as by grants from the Research and Program Evaluation Committee Brockville Psychiatric Hospital.     

Self-report bias and underreporting of depression on the BDI-II

One problem in identifying and treating depression is underreporting of symptoms by individuals. Previous research suggests that there may be systematic sex differences in self-report bias,with men tending to minimize their depressive symptoms more than women. This study used an experimental design with a sample of 238 community members to test whether disguising the purpose of the Beck Depression Inventory-II would significantly reduce self-report bias, especially in men. We found a main effect of condition such that both men and women reported significantly more core depressive symptoms in the covert condition, suggesting that surveys of community samples may underestimate the prevalence of depression.