Willem A. Arrindell

Robust Dimensions of Anxiety Sensitivity: Development and Initial Validation of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3.

Accumulating evidence suggests that anxiety sensitivity (fear of arousal-related sensations) plays an important role in many clinical conditions, particularly anxiety disorders. Research has increasingly focused on how the basic dimensions of anxiety sensitivity are related to various forms of psychopathology. Such work has been hampered because the original measure--the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI)--was not designed to be multidimensional. Subsequently developed multidimensional measures have unstable factor structures or measure only a subset of the most widely replicated factors. Therefore, the authors developed, via factor analysis of responses from U.S. and Canadian nonclinical participants (n=2,361), an 18-item measure, the ASI-3, which assesses the 3 factors best replicated in previous research: Physical, Cognitive, and Social Concerns. Factorial validity of the ASI-3 was supported by confirmatory factor analyses of 6 replication samples, including nonclinical samples from the United States and Canada, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Spain (n=4,494) and a clinical sample from the United States and Canada (n=390). The ASI-3 displayed generally good performance on other indices of reliability and validity, along with evidence of improved psychometric properties over the original ASI.

An empirical test of the utility of the observations-to-variables ratio in factor and components analysis

Many researchers have proposed a minimum ratio of observations to variables or an absolute minimum of observations in order to obtain stable factor config urations. However, hardly any empirical studies em ploying real data are available that attest to the tena bility of these proposals. A systematic analysis of the problem was undertaken, using self-report data from two large phobic samples on the Fear Survey Sched ule-III (N = 1104) and the Fear Questionnaire (N = 960). The data sets were randomly split into subsam ples with ratios varying from 1.3:1 to 19.8:1. Neither the observations to variables ratio nor an absolute minimum of observations had any influence on factor stability.

Anxiety, depression, and perception of early parenting: A meta-analysis.

Abstract The literature on perceived parental rearing practices in depressed and anxious patients is reviewed by means of a meta-analysis. To this aim, the psychometric and validational properties of questionnaires measuring perceptions of parental rearing styles were investigated, and only studies using satisfactory measures were included in the meta-analysis. Studies were grouped into various categories, such as specific type of disorder, remitted versus nonremitted cases, males versus females, and state versus trait measures of anxiety and depression. It is concluded that various types of phobic disorder were related to a parental rearing style of less Affection and more Control as compared to healthy controls. Findings with regard to depression appeared to be less consistent. Possible explanations for these inconsistencies are offered. Finally, problems with respect to validity of retrospective assessment of parental rearing practices are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS): appraisal with 1700 healthy young adults in The Netherlands

Abstract The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was developed in the U.S.A. to represent a multi-item scale for the overall assessment of life satisfaction as a cognitive-judgemental process, rather than for the measurement of specific satisfaction domains (e.g. health, material wealth). The present study was a further attempt to extend the applicability of the SWLS in a different cultural context (The Netherlands) using a large sample of healthy young adults. In line with previous American and Dutch findings, figures on the internal structure of the SWLS were quite favourable. SWLS scores were also shown to be predictably associated with marital status, indices of general health, self-esteem, euphoria, dysphoria (−) and neuroticism (−). A high number of visits to the GP correlated significantly negatively with SWLS in males only. As anticipated, associations of the SWLS with biological sex, impulsivity, disinhibition and boredom susceptibility were negligibly low. The frequently reported substantial positive correlation with sociability was not confirmed. Instead, significant but small correlations were observed, the yield of which was discussed in the context of findings showing that there are other aspects of extraversion that are more strongly related to satisfaction with life than sociability. These other aspects include assertiveness in males and positive emotion in females.

The development of a short form of the EMBU: Its appraisal with students in Greece, Guatemala, Hungary and Italy

Abstract Out of the necessity of having an abbreviated form of the EMBU, a measure of perceived parental rearing behaviour, a short form (s-EMBU) consisting of three scales (rejection, emotional warmth and protection) with, respectively, 7, 6 and 9 items (plus 1 unscaled item) was developed from the original 81-item version. The factorial and/or construct validity and reliability of this s-EMBU were examined among samples of 2373 students from Italy, Hungary, Guatemala and Greece. The data were presented for the four national groups separately. The 23-item s-EMBU is recommended as a reliable functional equivalent to the 81-item early EMBU. Attention was drawn to the need for further research to explain some of the observed cross-national differences in the correlations between parental rearing styles and personality.

ON THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE MAUDSLEY MARITAL QUESTIONNAIRE (MMQ) - EVALUATION OF SELF-RATINGS IN DISTRESSED AND NORMAL VOLUNTEER COUPLES BASED ON THE DUTCH VERSION

Abstract The current preliminary study presents data on reliability and validity of the Maudsley Marital Questionnaire (MMQ), a short 20-item scale which was designed to assess degree of favourableness of attitude towards ones own marriage. The MMQ contains three scales related to marital, sexual and general life adjustment, whose composition was initially based on those of analogue scales of the Structured and Scaled Interview to Assess Maladjustment (SSIAM). In addition to providing substantial support for an almost perfect similarity between hypothetical and empirical MMQ dimensional representations, findings, based on self-ratings of 125 volunteer couples from the community and 50 distressed couples, demonstrated that the MMQ scales have high internal consistency, sufficient test-retest reliability and validity and are only slightly correlated with social desirability.

Phobic dimensions: I. Reliability and generalizability across samples, gender and nations

Abstract A brief overview is given of results of: (a) factor analytic studies with Fear Survey Schedules of relevance to the cross-sample and cross-national constancy of phobic dimensions; (b) reliability analyses with these dimensions. Employing data of somewhat more than 3000 S s from 10 independent clinical and normal samples, a number of analyses with the FSS-III and the FQ showed the dimensions which have been found to underlie these measures ( Arrindell, 1980 ; Marks and Mathews, 1979 ) to be replicable in similar samples and invariant across distinct ones, and to be sufficiently reliable for purposes of research, in some instances even for applied problems. In addition, the FSS-III and FQ dimensions were shown to be invariant across sex. Of the main conclusions which were drawn three were particularly outstanding: (1) the Agoraphobic cluster of fear is not peculiar to samples comprising phobics in which agoraphobic fears occur full-blown in a significant number of S s. Such a factor can be interpreted in data of, for instance, (non)student normals as well provided that suitable techniques of multivariate analysis are employed, thus refuting the claim (cf. Hallam, 1978 ; Hallam and Hafner, 1978 ) that agoraphobia is a phenomenon that has “all or none” characteristics; (2) the use of total fear scores would appear to lead to invalid results; therefore, this general practice should be discarded; (3) small-to moderate-size decreases are likely to occur on phobic measures during relatively short and long non-treatment periods; such changes should be taken into consideration when drawing conclusions from results obtained in studies on pre- and post-therapy measurement. A differential use of the FSS-III and the FQ is stressed.

Dimensional structure and psychopathology correlates of the Fear Survey Schedule (FSS-III) in a phobic population: a factorial definition of agoraphobia.

Abstract The responses of 703 non-institutionalized phobics to the Fear Survey Schedule (FSS-III) were factor-analyzed utilizing a principal components procedure. Factors previously identified in student, adolescent and ‘non-phobic patient’ populations—(I) Social Anxiety, (III) Fears related to Bodily Injury, Death and Illness. (IV) Fear of Display to Sexual and Aggressive Scenes, (V) Small Animal Fears—were replicated. Additionally, an Agoraphobia (II) factor, corroborating recent findings by Hallam and Hafner (1978), and pointing to the specificity of this fear, emerged. Due to substantially high intercorrelations found, the Social Inadequacy dimension of the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) and the Social Anxiety scale (I), on the one hand, and the Agoraphobic dimension of the SCL-90 and the Agoraphobia scale (II), on the other, could be used interchangeably with phobic populations. A higher-order factor analysis run on psychopathology scales employed, including factored FSS scales, yielded three components, (1) Neuroticism, (2) Phobia and (3) Agoraphobia. Opportunity was taken to define the Agoraphobic Syndrome empirically. A specific Somatization dimension was as highly related to Neuroticism, as to the higher-order Agoraphobic cluster, clearly supporting clinical observations with regard to the Agoraphobic syndrome. Some interesting findings are focused upon and discussed.

Factors of perceived parental rearing styles: the EMBU-C examined in a sample of Dutch primary school children

The aim of the present study was to explore the dimensional framework underlying the original item pool of 81 items of the Dutch EMBU-C in a large sample of primary school aged children (n = 824). It was demonstrated that the full range of 81 items of the Dutch EMBU-C, could be reduced to four reliable factors, Emotional Warmth, Rejection, Overprotection and Favouring Subject. It was shown that the EMBU-C Scales for children have conceptually much in common with their adult and adolescent counterparts. Thus, the EMBU-C can be considered to be a suitable measure examining whether relations between psychological disorders and the perception of parenting style, as found in older subjects., can be confirmed in childhood. Preliminary results showed that the associations between perceived parenting, as measured by the EMBU-C, and trait anxiety in children, as measured with the STAIC, are consistent with findings yielded in studies with adults where anxious individuals expressed that they had been reared in a more rejective and protected way than their non-anxious equivalents

Anxiety sensitivity in six countries

In the present study, the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised (ASI-R; ) was administered to a large sample of persons (n=2786) from different cultures represented in six different countries: Canada, France, Mexico, The Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. We sought to (a) determine the factor structure and internal consistency of the ASI-R and (b) examine the correlations of the measure with psychiatric symptoms and personality dimensions in a single European non-English speaking country (The Netherlands). Partially consistent with the original hypothesis, the underlying structure of the anxiety sensitivity construct was generally similar across countries, tapping fear about the negative consequences of anxiety-related physical and social-cognitive sensations. Lower-order factors were moderately to strongly correlated with one another and showed good internal consistency. The observed lower-order ASI-R factors correlated with established psychiatric symptoms and with the personality trait of neuroticism. Partial correlations indicated that both factors are useful in accounting for variance in symptom measures. We discuss the results of this investigation in relation to the cross-cultural assessment of the anxiety sensitivity construct.