Measuring Experiential Avoidance: Reliability and Validity of the Dutch 9-item Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ)

Three studies evaluated psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the 9-item Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ)—a self-report measure designed to assess experiential avoidance as conceptualized in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Study 1, among bereaved adults, showed that a one-factor model, with AAQ-items constituting a single dimension of experiential avoidance, fitted the data well. The internal consistency and temporal stability of the AAQ were satisfactory. In Study 2, among undergraduate students, and Study 3, among 60 outpatients, higher AAQ scores were found to be significantly associated with psychopathology, maladaptive coping strategies, and neuroticism, attesting to the validity of the measure. In support of its incremental validity, Study 3 showed that the AAQ remained significantly associated with depression and anxiety after controlling for neuroticism and thought suppression. The current studies complement prior research supporting the psychometric properties of the AAQ and the ACT conceptualization of experiential avoidance.

中小学教师工作重塑问卷的编制

在文献分析和专家评定的基础上,从重塑的对象与方式出发,通过半结构化访谈和问卷调查,编制了初始的中小学教师工作重塑问卷。通过探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析对初始问卷进行修订,最终形成的正式问卷包含五个维度：任务重塑、角色重塑、关系重塑、技能重塑和认知重塑。结果表明,中小学教师工作重塑问卷具有较高的内部一致性信度、重测信度以及较好的内容效度、结构效度和效标效度。该问卷的心理测量学指标良好,可以作为我国中小学教师工作重塑的测量工具。     

The developmental change in strategies parents employ to settle young children to sleep,and their relationship to infant sleeping problems,as assessed by a new questionnaire: the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behaviour Scale

The development of a new parental self‐report questionnaire, the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behaviour Scale (PIBBS) is described. The PIBBS was designed to capture a wide range of parental behaviours used to settle infants off to sleep. The commonest behaviours employed were giving a feed, talking softly to the child, cuddling in the arms, and stroking. A factor analysis revealed five settling strategies; ‘active physical comforting’ (e.g. cuddling in arms); ‘encouraging infant autonomy’ (e.g. leaving to cry); ‘movement’ (e.g. car rides), ‘passive physical comforting’ (e.g. standing next to the cot without picking the infant up), and ‘social comforting’ (e.g. reading a story). Excessive ‘active physical comforting’ and reduced ‘encourage autonomy’ strategy use was associated with infant sleeping problems. Regarding developmental change in strategy between 1 and 2 years, the later the onset at which ‘encourage autonomy’ became the principal strategy used, the more likely that persistent infant sleeping problems would be present. Factors accounting for the change in strategy use over time were: (i) parental adaptation to infant developmental maturation; (ii) the interaction between maternal cognition and strategy, and, to a lesser extent; (iii) the interaction between infant temperament and parental strategy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

关于结直肠患者的PCQ风险评分系统的运用进展

摘要：回顾关于结直肠患者的PCQ（patient consultation questionnaire,问卷量表一加权评分系统）风险评估体系自1999年产生以来的运用进展情况。查阅了1999年至今的相关文献,分析总结PCQ系统的评估原理、评估流程、评估效果,并作一综述。结果显示：PCQ系统对各种疾病的分辨能力较高,随着WNS（weighed numerical score,加权分数）分数的增加,各种疾病分数表现为阶梯状上升的层级分布图。癌症患者与非癌症患者的平均WNS分剐是70-80、40-55之间,有统计学意义。当以WNS分数60为界时,WNS系统的敏感度、特异度可分别达到86.5％、84.5％。以WNS50为转诊标准,仅40％的患者需紧急转诊,发现91％的癌症患者。提示PCQ系统的准确性高、特异性强,是一个很有发展前景的评估体系,可以进一步的开展多中心研究进行验证,进而推广使用并引进到中国。     

The AMQ: A Four‐Factor Inventory of Absentmindedness and Memory

The Absentmindedness and Memory Questionnaire (AMQ) is a new self‐rating scale designed to evaluate everyday memory problems related to absentmindedness. It includes 24 items and is based on studies of different samples (N= 623). Its test‐retest reliability is high and it has consistently shown similar factor structure. The AMQ thus measures four weakly correlated factors: Absentmindedness, Persons, Locations and Codes/Addresses. Factor analysis further indicates that Absentmindedness may include two subfactors: momentary attention deficit and prospective forgetfulness or impaired agenda memory. Gender differences were found in Persons (Female+) and Locations (Male+) but not in Absentmindedness or Codes/Addresses. The current version of AMQ has seven interindividually comparable response alternatives for each item in the questionnaire. This makes it useful as a measure of subjective absentmindedness or forgetfulness as well as a complementary measure of subjective memory for persons, locations, and codes/addresses/stories, especially at follow‐up examinations.     

Does traffic congestion increase driver aggression?

In his recent article about aggressive driving, David Shinar proposed that the classical frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard, J., Doob, L., Miller, N., Mowrer, O. & Sears, R. (1939). Frustration and aggression. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press) provides a useful tool for understanding driver aggression (Shinar, D. (1998). Aggressive driving: the contribution of the drivers and situation. Transportation Research Part F, 1, 137–160). According to Shinar's (1998) application of the frustration–aggression hypothesis, driver aggression is caused by frustration because of traffic congestion and delays. In the present study, the relationships between exposure to congestion (rush-hour driving) and aggressive violations (DBQ) were investigated in Great Britain, Finland and the Netherlands. Partial correlations showed that the frequency of rush-hour driving did not correlate statistically significantly with driver aggression. Correlations between driving during rush-hour and aggression did not differ in magnitude from those between driving on country roads and aggressive violations. In addition, correlations between exposure to congestion and aggressive violations in countries with large number of vehicles per road kilometre (UK, Netherlands) were not higher than those in a sparsely populated country (Finland). These results from three countries suggest that congestion does not increase driver aggression as directly as suggested by Shinar (1998).     

Commentary: What is the Meaning and Utility of the Psychopathy Concept?

The concept and measurement of psychopathy in young people is discussed with respect to five key issues: (1) the respective merits of self-reports and ratings by others; (2) whether callous/unemotional (CU) features may be more appropriately tapped by physiological measures; (3) the possible utility of genetic studies; (4) the distinctiveness of CU from other risk factors for antisocial behavior; and (5) the homogeneity of CU as a construct.     

The cognitive-somatic anxiety questionnaire: Psychometric and validity data

The Cognitive-Somatic Anxiety Questionnaire (CSAQ) is a 14-item self-report inventory that is divided into two 7-item scales (Cognitive and Somatic) that appear to reflect cognitive or somatic anxiety. In an attempt to evaluate the construct validity of this multidimensional instrument, the CSAQ was administered to 109 college students along with several other measures of physical and psychological symptoms. The results suggest that (a) despite considerable overlap between the Cognitive and the Somatic scales (r=.62), an exploratory factor analysis is able to identify a single large somatic factor along with three lesser cognitive-appearing factors, and (b) the correlations with concurrent measures of related constructs provide some limited evidence of the construct validity of the CSAQ. For males, both the Cognitive and the Somatic scales of the CSAQ correlated significantly with several anxietyrelated measures. However, for females CSAQ scores correlated less consistently with the other test scales, although Somatic scale scores for females were positively related to measures of health and exercise involvement. Suggestions for improving the CSAQ are offered.     

Specific fears as predictors of generalized anxiety

Three hundred thirty-seven female undergraduates completed the Trait Form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Fear Survey Schedule-II (FSS) to determine if any specific fear factor was significantly related to STAI score. All fear factor scores and the total FSS-II score were significantly correlated with the STAI score and with each other. A stepwise regression procedure indicated that Factor 1, Fear of Social Interaction, accounted for 25.2% of the variance in STAI scores (p <.001), while Factor 4, of Negative Social Evaluation, accounted for an additional 1.8% of the variance (p <.01). The implications for theory, assessment, and intervention are discussed.