Development and validation of the trait and state versions of the Post-Event Processing Inventory.
BACKGROUND
Post-event processing (PEP) refers to negative and prolonged rumination following anxiety-provoking social situations. Although there are scales to assess PEP, they are situation-specific, some targeting only public-speaking situations. Furthermore, there are no trait measures to assess the tendency to engage in PEP.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this research was to create a new measure of PEP, the Post-Event Processing Inventory (PEPI), which can be employed following all types of social situations and includes both trait and state forms.


METHODS
Over two studies (study 1, N = 220; study 2, N = 199), we explored and confirmed the factor structure of the scale with student samples.


RESULTS
For each form of the scale, we found and confirmed that a higher-order, general PEP factor could be inferred from three sub-domains (intensity, frequency, and self-judgment). We also found preliminary evidence for the convergent, concurrent, discriminant/divergent, incremental, and predictive validity for each version of the scale. Both forms of the scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency and the trait form had excellent two-week test-retest reliability.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the utility and versatility of the scale, the PEPI may provide a useful alternative to existing measures of PEP and rumination.
a Department of Psychology , Wilfrid Laurier University , Waterloo , Canada.
Rebecca A
RA
Blackie
a Department of Psychology , Wilfrid Laurier University , Waterloo , Canada.
Nancy L
NL
Kocovski
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D000074222:Rumination, Cognitive; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Post-event processing; assessment; psychometrics; rumination; social anxiety; social phobia