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.
Taylor
Steven
S
Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. taylor@unixg.ubc.ca
Zvolensky
Michael J
MJ
Cox
Brian J
BJ
Deacon
Brett
B
Heimberg
Richard G
RG
Ledley
Deborah Roth
DR
Abramowitz
Jonathan S
JS
Holaway
Robert M
RM
Sandin
Bonifacio
B
Stewart
Sherry H
SH
Coles
Meredith
M
Eng
Winnie
W
Daly
Erin S
ES
Arrindell
Willem A
WA
Bouvard
Martine
M
Cardenas
Samuel Jurado
SJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology