The Beck Anxiety Inventory: Reexamination of factor structure and psychometric properties

Abstract

Several exploratory factor-analytic studies of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) have reported two, four, and five factors. This study evaluated the fit of four competing models to data provided by a sample of 350 undergraduates. Results of the initial confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) provided strong support for the fit of the four-factor oblique model. Next, we respecified the four-factor model as a single second-order BAI. Results showed that the second-order model also provided adequate fit to the data. Evidence also supported the psychometric indices of reliability and convergent validity. Finally, we examined the relation of the BAI to several demographic variables. Limitations of the study are discussed.

Effects of depressive and anxious symptoms on norepinephrine and platelet P-selectin responses to acute psychological stress among elderly caregivers

“…Studies among similar samples of community-dwelling elderly caregivers and noncaregivers, speak to the validity of the BSI depressive subscale in gerontological research (Stukenberg et al, 1990). Although the anxiety subscale is less well-researched among older adults, some evidence is available supporting its construct and divergent validity from the BSI depression subscale among older adults (Chester, 2001), and suggesting good convergent validity with other anxiety measures (Osman et al, 1997).…”

A Review of Assessment of Sleep Disruption in Adults Following Traumatic Brain Injury

“…The BAI is a short (21 items, 4 point likert scale) inventory used to assess a general level of anxiety and is one of the most widely used inventories to assess anxiety in research [43]. However, confirmatory factor analyses have revealed multiple possible factor structures including two, four, or five separate factors within the scale representing subjective, panic, autonomic, and neurophysiologic anxiety, and that each factor shows differing levels of construct validity [44]. Thus any use of the overall measure with the inventory will contain multiple sources of anxiety symptoms and not account for the shared symptoms with the depression scales.…”

Diabetes Diagnosis is related to Anxiety Among Mexican Americans But Not non-Hispanic Adults: A Project FRONTER study

“…The Panic factor consisted of heart pounding, feelings of choking, difficulty breathing, and fear of dying [22]. Factor scores have been shown to have adequate psychometric properties [23].…”