title: Assessment of anxiety among Northern Plains Indians.
abstract: This study is an examination of the reliability and validity of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) in a sample of NPIs (N = 529). Validity was assessed by comparing BAI scores among 3 different diagnostic categories in a clinical sample (anxiety disorder, mood disorder, and comorbid anxiety/mood disorder diagnostic groups) and a community sample of participants with no self-reported mental health diagnoses. The BAI was also compared with depression, quality of life, and anxiety measures to assess validity. Support toward the validity of the BAI was demonstrated through high correlations with similar measures of anxiety, as well as higher scores among the clinical samples compared to the control sample. The BAI also demonstrated strong internal consistency (α = .95). An exploratory factor analysis indicated the presence of 3 factors: (a) fear, (b) cardiorespiratory, and (c) body instability symptoms. The BAI was unable to accurately differentiate between mood disorder and anxiety disorder groups. Results of this study indicate that the BAI may be a useful instrument in the assessment of anxiety with NPIs; however, the BAI is potentially unsuited to differentiating between mood disorders and anxiety disorders with this population. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Center for Rural Health, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota.
authors.forename: Jacqueline S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Community Services, University of North Dakota.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: McCullagh
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Petros
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D003863:Depression; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology; D055815:Young Adult