Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of General Emotion Questionnaire-Contrast Avoidance Model

Abstract

Background: According to Contrast Avoidance Model, those suffering from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are afraid of severe emotional changes such as the transition from a good or neutral position to sudden unhappiness following a negative event. Also, the model shows that persistent worrying can be used to maintain negative emotions as a means of preventing a sudden change to negative in people with GAD. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the General Emotion Questionnaire-Contrast Avoidance Model (GEQ-CAM). Methods: Early, the GEQ was translated into Persian according to the translation instructions and using multistage cluster sampling. Initially, five universities located in Tehran were randomly selected, then from each of them, three different colleges were selected for the academic year of 2020. Afterward, 50 cases with GAD were selected using the convenience sampling method, yielding a total sample size of 576 (526 students and 50 cases with GAD). Results: General Emotion Questionnaire has an excellent level of internal consistency (α = 0.973) and test-retest reliability (0.986). This questionnaire indicated a positive and significant correlation with Penn State Worry Questionnaire (r = 0.804) and GAD-7 (r = 0.727), which indicates its appropriate convergent validity. Also, confirmatory factor analysis supported its 2-factor structure. Conclusions: In accordance with previous studies, the findings suggested that psychometric properties of the Persian version of the General Emotion Questionnaire-Contrast Avoidance Model are acceptable; hence, this questionnaire can be used for research, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes.

A transdiagnostic evaluation of contrast avoidance across generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and social anxiety disorder

“…To date, two studies examining the original and translated versions of the CAQ-GE have found a significant and strong correlation between CAQ-GE and GAD (r = .80) and CAQ-GE and MDD (r = .63) symptoms (Javaherirenani et al, 2021;White et al, 2021), providing preliminary evidence for the relevance of CAM across GAD and MDD. An additional study examined the sensitivity and specificity of the CAQ-GE in predicting GAD and found a sensitivity of 89.7 and a specificity of 89.3 accounting for an area under the curve of 96% (Llera & Newman, 2017).…”

“…Studies reported good psychometric properties of the CAQ-GE (Javaherirenani et al, 2021;Llera & Newman, 2017;Rogers et al, 2022;White et al, 2021). Thus, the CAQ-GE was used to examine whether CAM might be a common construct within the three disorders.…”