Confirmatory factor analysis and psychometric properties of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised in clinical and normative populations

The present investigation aimed to critically examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index - Revised (ASI-R). Confirmatory factor analysis using a clinical sample of adults (N = 248) revealed that the ASI-R could be improved substantially through the removal of 15 problematic items in order to account for the most robust dimensions of anxiety sensitivity. This modified scale was renamed the 21-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index (21-item ASI) and reanalyzed with a large sample of normative adults (N = 435), revealing configural and metric invariance across groups. Further comparisons with other alternative models, using multi-sample analysis, indicated the 21-item ASI to be the best fitting model for both groups. There was also evidence of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity for both samples suggesting that the 21-item ASI is a useful assessment device for investigating the construct of anxiety sensitivity in both clinical and normative populations.

Psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale with young adolescents

The psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) were examined with 875 adolescents aged 13 and 14 years. This self-report measure was designed to evaluate symptoms relating to separation anxiety, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic-agoraphobia, generalized anxiety, and fears of physical injury. Results of confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses supported six factors consistent with the hypothesized subtypes of anxiety. There was support also for a model in which the first-order factors loaded significantly on a single second-order factor of anxiety in general. The internal consistency of the total score and sub-scales was high, and 12-week test-retest reliability was satisfactory. The SCAS correlated strongly with a frequently used child self-report measure of anxiety and significantly, albeit at a lower level, with a measure of depression. (C) 2002 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Psychometric properties of the drinking expectancy questionnaire: A review of the factor structure and a proposed new scoring method

Objective: Expectancies about the outcomes of alcohol consumption are widely accepted as important determinants of drinking. This construct is increasingly recognized as a significant element of psychological interventions for alcohol-related problems. Much effort has been invested in producing reliable and valid instruments to measure this construct for research and clinical purposes, but very few have had their factor structure subjected to adequate validation. Among them, the Drinking Expectancies Questionnaire (DEQ) was developed to address some theoretical and design issues with earlier expectancy scales. Exploratory factor analyses, in addition to validity and reliability analyses, were performed when the original questionnaire was developed. The object of this study was to undertake a confirmatory analysis of the factor structure of the DEQ. Method: Confirmatory factor analysis through LISREL 8 was performed using a randomly split sample of 679 drinkers. Results: Results suggested that a new 5-factor model, which differs slightly from the original 6-factor version, was a more robust measure of expectancies. A new method of scoring the DEQ consistent with this factor structure is presented. Conclusions: The present study shows more robust psychometric properties of the DEQ using the new factor structure.

A parent-report measure of children's anxiety: psychometric properties and comparison with child-report in a clinic and normal sample

This study examined the psychometric properties of the parent version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P); 484 parents of anxiety disordered children and 261 parents in a normal control group participated in the study. Results of confirmatory factor analysis provided support for six intercorrelated factors, that corresponded with the child self-report as well as with the classification of anxiety disorders by DSM-IV (namely separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia, panic/agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and fear of physical injuries). A post-hoc model in which generalized anxiety functioned as the higher order factor for the other five factors described the data equally well. The reliability of the subscales was satisfactory to excellent. Evidence was found for both convergent and divergent validity: the measure correlated well with the parent report for internalizing symptoms, and lower with externalizing symptoms. Parent-child agreement ranged from 0.41 to 0.66 in the anxiety-disordered group, and from 0.23 to 0.60 in the control group. The measure differentiated significantly between anxiety-disordered children versus controls, and also between the different anxiety disorders except GAD. The SCAS-P is recommended as a screening instrument for normal children and as a diagnostic instrument in clinical settings. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The gambling related cognitions scale (GRCS): development, confirmatory factor validation and psychometric properties

Aims The aims of this study are to develop and validate a measure to screen for a range of gambling-related cognitions (GRC) in gamblers. Design and participants A total of 968 volunteers were recruited from a community-based population. They were divided randomly into two groups. Principal axis factoring with varimax rotation was performed on group one and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used on group two to confirm the best-fitted solution. Measurements The Gambling Related Cognition Scale (GRCS) was developed for this study and the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the Motivation Towards Gambling Scale (MTGS) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-2 1) were used for validation. Findings Exploratory factor analysis performed using half the sample indicated five factors, which included interpretative control/bias (GRCS-IB), illusion of control (GRCS-IC), predictive control (GRCS-PC), gambling-related expectancies (GRCS-GE) and a perceived inability to stop gambling (GRCS-IS). These accounted for 70% of the total variance. Using the other half of the sample, CFA confirmed that the five-factor solution fitted the data most effectively. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the factors ranged from 0.77 to 0.91, and 0.93 for the overall scale. Conclusions This paper demonstrated that the 23-item GRCS has good psychometric properties and thus is a useful instrument for identifying GRC among non-clinical gamblers. It provides the first step towards devising/adapting similar tools for problem gamblers as well as developing more specialized instruments to assess particular domains of GRC.

The gambling urge scale: Development, confirmatory factor validation, and psychometric properties

The urge to gamble is a physiological, psychological, or emotional motivational state, often associated with continued gambling. The authors developed and validated the 6-item Gambling Urge Questionnaire (GUS), which was based on the 8-item Alcohol Urge Questionnaire (M. J. Bohn, D. D. Krahn, & B. A. Staehler, 1995), using 968 community-based participants. Exploratory factor analysis using half of the sample indicated a 1-factor solution that accounted for 55.18% of the total variance. This was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis with the other half of the sample. The GUS had a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .81. Concurrent, predictive, and criterion-related validity of the GUS were good, suggesting that the GUS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing gambling urges among nonclinical gamblers.

Drinking refusal self-efficacy questionnaire-revised (DRSEQ-R): a new factor structure with confirmatory factor analysis

The drinking refusal self-efficacy questionnaire (DRSEQ: Young, R.M., Oei, T.P.S., 1996. Drinking expectancy profile: test manual. Behaviour Research and Therapy Centre, University of Queensland, Australia Young, R.M., Oei, T.P.S., Crook, G.M., 1991. Development of a drinking refusal self-efficacy questionnaire. J. Psychopathol. Behav. Assess., 13, 1-15) assesses a person's belief in their ability to resist alcohol. The DRSEQ is a sound psychometric instrument based on exploratory factor analyses, but has not been subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. In total 2773 participants were used to confirm the factor structure of the DRSEQ. Initial analyses revealed that the original structure was not confirmed in the current study. Subsequent analyses resulted in a revised factor structure (DRSEQ-R) being confirmed in community, student and clinical samples. The DRSEQ-R was also found to have good construct and concurrent validity. The factor structure of the DRSEQ-R is more stable than the original structure of the DRSEQ and the revised scale has considerable potential in future alcohol-related research. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychometric assessment of recovery from mild traumatic brain injury

The Rapid Screen of Concussion (RSC) is a brief psychometric test battery, designed to provide a functional criterion to aid clinical diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The present research aimed to examine the utility of this instrument for assessing recovery after mTBI. Three studies were conducted. In Study 1, Discriminant Function Analysis was performed to determine how well the RSC differentiated uninjured controls (N¼16), from mTBI patients (N¼22) and moderate to severe TBI patients (N¼14), several months post-injury. As predicted, moderate to severe TBI patients achieved lower scores than the mTBI and control groups. The RSC also successfully differentiated between each of the diagnostic groups, yielding an overall correct classification rate of 75%. Study 2 examined the predictive utility of the RSC in the mTBI sample (N¼22). Acute injury performance on the RSC was correlated with post-injury scores at an average of 5.5 months post-injury. Statistically significant partial correlation coefficients (r¼0.53r¼0.80) were found for each of the subtests, showing that low acute RSC scores were predictive of poor recovery scores on the RSC after mTBI. In the third study, Reliable Change Indices were calculated on the RSC subtests to examine individual patterns of recovery from mTBI. While 17 of the 23 participants made a significant improvement on their acute injury DSST scores (74%), only 13 of 25 made a significant improvement on the Rapid Sentence Judgement Test (52%), highlighting differential recovery of function, and challenging the notion of full recovery from mTBI within 3 months. These overall results offer support for the construct and predictive validity of the RSC and demonstrate that inexpensive tests of brain function may be useful for managing mTBI acutely for prognosis.

Evaluating the properties of a stage-specific self-efficacy scale for physical activity using classical test theory, confirmatory factor analysis and item response modeling

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a stage-specific selfefficacy scale for physical activity with classical test theory (CTT), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response modeling (IRM). Women who enrolled in the Women On The Move study completed a 20-item stage-specific self-efficacy scale developed for this study [n = 226, 51.1% African-American and 48.9% Hispanic women, mean age = 49.2 (67.0) years, mean body mass index = 29.7 (66.4)]. Three analyses were conducted: (i) a CTT item analysis, (ii) a CFA to validate the factor structure and (iii) an IRM analysis. The CTT item analysis and the CFA results showed that the scale had high internal consistency (ranging from 0.76 to 0.93) and a strong factor structure. Results also showed that the scale could be improved by modifying or eliminating some of the existing items without significantly altering the content of the scale. The IRM results also showed that the scale had few items that targeted high self-efficacy and the stage-specific assumption underlying the scale was rejected. In addition, the IRM analyses found that the five-point response format functioned more like a four-point response format. Overall, employing multiple methods to assess the psychometric properties of the stage-specific self-efficacy scale demonstrated the complimentary nature of these methods and it highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of this scale.

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the diabetes empowerment scale

Metabolic control is central to positive clinical outcome in patients with diabetes. Empowerment has been linked to metabolic control in this clinical group. The current study sought to determine key psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Diabetes Empowerment Scale (C-DES) and to explore the relationship of the C-DES sub-scales to metabolic control in 189 patients with a diagnosis of diabetes. Confirmatory factor analysis established that the five sub-scales of the C-DES offered a highly satisfactory fit to the data. Furthermore, C-DES sub-scales were found to have generally acceptable internal consistency and divergent reliability. However, convergent reliability of C-DES sub-scales could not be established against metabolic control. It is concluded that future research needs to address ambiguities in the relationship between empowerment and metabolic control in order to afford patients an evidenced-based treatment package to assure optimal metabolic control.

An examination of the psychometric properties of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) in Chinese acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients

The psychometric properties of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) as a clinical research instrument for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients were investigated in a translated Chinese version of the instrument. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the RSES to establish its psychometric properties in 128 ACS patients over two observation points (within 1 week and 6 months post-admission for ACS). Internal and test - retest reliability of the RSES-TOT (all-items) and RSES-POS sub-scale (positively valenced items) were found to be acceptable. The RSES-NEG sub-scale (negatively valenced items) lacked acceptable internal reliability. The underlying factor structure of the RSES comprised two distinct but related factors, though there was inconsistency in best model fit indices at the 1-week observation point. The use of the RSES as two sub-scales (RSES-POS and RSES-NEG) may be clinically useful in evaluating the influence of this important psychological construct on the health outcomes of patients with ACS. Directions for future research are indicated.