Anxiety sensitivity in traumatized Cambodian refugees: a discriminant function and factor analytic investigation.
We examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of a Cambodian translation of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) and an Augmented ASI (the ASI supplemented with a 9-item addendum that assesses additional Cambodian concerns about anxiety-related sensations). Both the ASI and the Augmented ASI distinguished among three diagnostic groups: highest score, PTSD with panic disorder (PP group); next, panic disorder without PTSD (P group); and then, other disorders than PTSD or panic disorder (O group). In the discriminant function analysis using the Augmented ASI, the best classificatory predictor (PP vs. P vs. O) was an Addendum item ("It scares me when I stand up and feel dizzy"). The principal component analysis (oblimin rotation) of the ASI yielded a 3-factor solution (I, Weak Heart Concerns; II, Control Concerns; III, Social Concerns) and of the Augmented ASI, a 4-factor solution (I, Weak Heart Concerns; II, Control Concerns; III, Wind Attack Concerns; IV, Social Concerns). The item clustering within the factor solution of both the ASI and Augmented ASI illustrates the role of cultural syndromes in generating fear of mental and bodily events.
Hinton
Devon E
DE
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. devon_hinton@hms.harvard.edu
Pich
Vuth
V
Safren
Steven A
SA
Pollack
Mark H
MH
McNally
Richard J
RJ
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D002160:Cambodia / Q000208:ethnology; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*