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The Anxiety Attitude and Belief Scale: initial psychometric properties in an undergraduate sample
Author(s) -
Brown Gary P.,
Craske Michelle G.,
Tata Philip,
Rassovsky Yuri,
Tsao Jennie C. I.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/1099-0879(200007)7:3<230::aid-cpp239>3.0.co;2-y
Subject(s) - psychology , anxiety , confirmatory factor analysis , dysfunctional family , clinical psychology , scale (ratio) , sample (material) , psychometrics , beck anxiety inventory , vulnerability (computing) , structural equation modeling , beck depression inventory , psychiatry , physics , chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics , statistics , mathematics , computer security , computer science
The development of a measure of attitudes and beliefs intended to index a psychological vulnerability to anxiety problems is described. Items for the Anxiety Attitude and Belief Scale (AABS) were developed by polling researchers and clinicians active in the area of anxiety disorders. The initial psychometric properties of the resulting scale were examined in a sample of undergraduates. The three factors underlying the AABS appear to index theoretically interesting domains, and both the total and factor scores showed adequate reliability. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the AABS indexes a distinct, although likely overlapping, domain from the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (A. N. Weissman and A. T. Beck, presentation at the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Chicago, IL, 1978), a theoretically related scale of cognitive vulnerability to depression and other emotional disorders. Finally, a cross‐ lagged panel analysis indicated no causal relationship between the AABS and depression. On the other hand, this analysis suggested a causal relationship between the AABS and anxiety, with prior AABS scores predicting later anxiety, rather than the reverse. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.