Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–4Cite as

Beck Anxiety Inventory

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Definition

Anxiety is the persistent expectation of a real or imagined threat. It is characterized by muscle tension and hypervigilance and may include cautious or avoidant behaviors. The thoughts and emotions that accompany anxiety are often viewed as excessive and outside of the developmental norm (American Psychiatric Association 2013). The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) is a measure used to assess severity of anxiety (Beck and Steer 1993).

Introduction

The BAI is a 21-item self-report instrument designed as a screening tool, in which patients rate their experience of the severity of each symptom of anxiety. It is a widely used instrument that has been translated into a variety of languages (Steer et al. 1993). Patients are instructed to focus their answers on the last week, including the day of administration. Respondents rank symptoms on a Likert scale with the anchors of 0 (Not at All) to 3 (Severe). Examples of items found on the BAI include “Fear of the Worst Happening,”...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bardhoshi, G., Duncan, K., & Erford, B. T. (2016). Psychometric meta-analysis of the English version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Journal of Counseling & Development, 94, 356–373. doi:10.1002/jcad.12090.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. (1991). Relationship between the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale with anxious outpatients. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 5, 213–223. doi:10.1016/0887-6185(91)90002-B.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. (1993). Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory. San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G., & Steer, R. A. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: Psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 893–897. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.56.6.893.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory manual (2nd ed.). San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borden, J. W., Peterson, D. R., & Jackson, E. A. (1991). The Beck Anxiety Inventory in nonclinical samples: Initial psychometric properties. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 13, 345–356. doi:10.1007/BF00960446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carney, C. E., Moss, T. G., Harris, A. L., Edinger, J. D., & Krystal, A. D. (2011). Should we be anxious when assessing anxiety using the Beck Anxiety Inventory in clinical insomnia patients? Journal of Psychiatric Research, 45, 1243–1249. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.03.011.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, L. K., Williams, S. R., Mast, B. T., & Woodruff-Borden, J. (2009). A confirmatory factor analysis of the Beck Anxiety Inventory in African American and European American young adults. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23, 387–392. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.12.003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. M. R., Marszalek, J. M., Bennett, K. K., Harry, K. M., Howarter, A. D., Eways, K. R., & Reed, K. S. (2016). Comparison of factor structure models for the Beck Anxiety Inventory among cardiac rehabilitation patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 89, 91–97. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2016.08.007.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, B. J., Cohen, E., Direnfeld, D. M., & Swinson, R. P. (1996a). Does the Beck Anxiety Inventory measure anything beyond panic attack symptoms? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 949–954. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(96)00037-X.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, B. J., Cohen, E., Direnfeld, D. M., & Swinson, R. P. (1996b). Reply to Steer and Beck: Panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and quantitative versus qualitative differences in anxiety assessment. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 959–961.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fydrich, T., Dowdall, D., & Chambliss, D. L. (1992). Reliability and validity of the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 6, 55–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, C. E., Rideaux, T., Spira, A. P., & Beaudreau, S. A. (2014). Depression and anxiety symptoms in male veterans and non-veterans: The Health and Retirement Study. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. doi:10.1002/gps.4193.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, J. S., McCullagh, J. A., & Petros, T. (2016). Assessment of anxiety among Northern Plains Indians. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 86, 186–193. doi:10.1037/ort0000103.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, M. (1959). The assessment of anxiety states by rating. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 32, 50–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jolly, J. B., Aruffo, J. F., Wherry, J. N., & Livingston, R. (1993). The utility of the Beck Anxiety Inventory with inpatient adolescents. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 7, 95–106. doi:10.1016/0887-6185(93)90008-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leyfer, O. T., Ruberg, J. L., & Woodruff-Borden, J. (2006). Examination of the utility of the Beck Anxiety Inventory and its factors as a screener for anxiety disorders. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 20, 444–458. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2005.05.004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay, W. R., & Skene, D. D. (2007). The Beck Depression Inventory II and the Beck Anxiety Inventory in people with intellectual disabilities: Factor analysis and group data. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 20, 401–408. doi:10.1111/j.1468-3148.2007.00380.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muntingh, A. D. T., van der Feltz-Cornelis, C. M., van Marwijk, H. W. J., Spinhoven, P., Penninx, B. W., & van Balkom, A. J. L. M. (2011). Is the Beck Anxiety Inventory a good tool to assess the severity of anxiety? A primary care study in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). BMC Family Practice, 12, 66. doi:10.1186/1471-2296-12-66.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Osman, A., Kopper, B. A., Barrios, F. X., Osman, J. R., & Wade, T. (1997). The Beck Anxiety Inventory: Reexamination of factor structure and psychometric properties. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53, 7–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4679(199701)53:1_7::AID-JCLP23.0.CO;2-S.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, G. A., Happe, M. C., Paxson, J. M., Jurek, B. K. W., & Olson, S. A. (2016). Dimensionality of the Beck Anxiety Inventory in a polytrauma sample of OEF/OIF/OND veterans: Findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Military Psychology, 28, 296–305. doi:10.1037/mil0000117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piotrowski, C. (1999). The status of the Beck Anxiety Inventory in contemporary research. Psychological Reports, 85, 261–262. doi:10.2466/pr0.1999.85.1.261.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riskind, J., Beck, A. T., Brown, G., & Steer, R. A. (1987). Taking the measure of anxiety and depression: Validity of the reconstructed Hamilton scales. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 175, 474–479.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spielberger, C. D. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y). Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steer, R. A., & Beck, A. T. (1996). Generalized anxiety and panic disorders: Response to Cox, Cohen, Direnfield, and Swinson. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 955–957. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(96)00059-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steer, R. A., Rissmiller, D. J., Ranieri, W. F., & Beck, A. T. (1993). Structure of the computer-assisted Beck Anxiety Inventory with psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Personality Assessment, 60, 532–542. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6003_10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., & Kendall, P. C. (1989). Common and differentiating features of anxiety and depression: Current findings and future directions. In P. C. Kendall & D. Watson (Eds.), Anxiety and depression: Distinctive and overlapping features (pp. 83–129). New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetherell, J. L., & Gatz, M. (2005). The Beck Anxiety Inventory in older adults with generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 27, 17–24. doi:10.1007/s10862-005-3261-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, St. Cloud VA Healthcare System, 4801 Veterans Drive, MH-116A, St. Cloud, MN, 56303, USA

    Glen A. Palmer, Andrew Dahlstrom, Andrew Kingwell & Jane Van Sickle

Authors
  1. Glen A. Palmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrew Dahlstrom
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrew Kingwell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jane Van Sickle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Glen A. Palmer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, USA

    Brendan Clark

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG (outside the USA)

About this entry

Cite this entry

Palmer, G.A., Dahlstrom, A., Kingwell, A., Van Sickle, J. (2017). Beck Anxiety Inventory. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_5-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_5-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation