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What do Anxiety Scales Really Measure? An Item Content Analysis of Self-Report Measures of Anxiety

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Abstract

Anxiety is a common experience and component of the human condition, but as a construct it is difficult to define and anxiety scales vary in which aspects are emphasized. In the present study, we analyzed and quantified the content overlap of self-report instruments used to measure non-specific or global anxiety. Categorization of the 313 items across thirteen commonly used anxiety scales resulted in 60 disparate categories that spanned a wide variety of symptoms. Mean overlap between all of the selected scales was generally low. On average, only 30.9.% of all symptoms were captured by any given measure. Results indicate that the scales are heterogenous in the content that they measure. Therefore, anxiety-related scales should not be assumed to be interchangeable and careful consideration should be taken when selecting measures.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Eiko Fried for openly sharing his code and data and for so kindly helping troubleshoot our code.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University, SIU Psychology, Life Science II, Rm 268, 1125 Lincoln Drive-MC 6502, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA

    Andy D. Wall & Eric B. Lee

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  1. Andy D. Wall
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Correspondence to Andy D. Wall.

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Wall, A.D., Lee, E.B. What do Anxiety Scales Really Measure? An Item Content Analysis of Self-Report Measures of Anxiety. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 44, 1148–1157 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-09973-9

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