The validity and reliability of Turkish version of separation anxiety symptom inventory and adult separation anxiety questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity and reliability of Separation Anxiety Symptoms Inventory (SASI) that assess childhood separation anxiety retrospectively and Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (ASA).


METHODS
The study sample included a group of 410 participants comprised of 282 adult psychiatric outpatients with anxiety and/or major depressive disorders according to DSM-IV criteria and 128 nonpsychiatric control subjects. The presence of psychiatric disorders was determined by using the M.I.N.I. (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview). Structured Clinical Interview for Separation Anxiety Symptoms (SCI-SAS), Separation Anxiety Symptoms Inventory (SASI), Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (ASA), Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS), "Sensitivity to Separations" subscale of Panic Agorapfobic Spectrum Scale (PAS-SR), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) were also given.


RESULTS
The validity assessments of the instruments revealed that SASI and ASA discriminated the psychiatric patients from control subjects. Both instruments displayed high correlation with SCI-SAS and PAS-SR, a moderate correlation with ASI and PDSS. Factor structure assessments revealed the existence of 3 factor for SASI and 5 factor for ASA. Both SASI and ASA has a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach alfa coefficients are 0.89 and 0.93 respectively) and their test-retest reliability is fairly good.


RESULTS
Turkish versions of SASI and ASA were found to be valid and reliable. Results indicate that those instruments can be used in clinical studies for surveying adult separation anxiety disorder and determining its severity.
Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Neuroscience, Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey. meliha.dirioz@deu.edu.tr
Meliha
M
Diriöz
Tunç
T
Alkın
Beyazıt
B
Yemez
Elif
E
Onur
Neslihan
N
Eminağaoğlu
D000328:Adult; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating; D014421:Turkey