THE MEASUREMENT OF VIGILANCE AND COGNITIVE AVOIDANCE - INVESTIGATIONSWITH THE ANGSTBEWALTIGUNGS-INVENTAR (ABI)

This article reports the construction and empirical assessment of the ''Angstbewaltigungs-Inventar'' (ABI; the English adaptation of this te st is called Mainz Coping Inventory, MCI; cf. H. W. Krohne & B. Egloff , in Dress). The ABI is based on the model of coping modes (H. W. Kroh ne, 1993b). This model conceptualizes two central coping constructs: v igilance (the intensified search for and processing of threat-related information) and cognitive avoidance (the averting of threat-relevant cues). The ABI, which aims at measuring these constructs, is organized as a stimulus-response inventory and contains two subtests. Four fict itious physical-threat situations ape presented to the participants in the subtest ABI-P. while the subtest ABI-E contains four ego-threaten ing scenarios. Each situation is conjoined with five vigilant and five cognitive avoidant coping strategies, thus allowing the separate asse ssment of the coping dispositions vigilance and cognitive avoidance. A nalyses concerning participants' appraisals of the threat scenarios, p sychometric properties and factorial structure of the ABI as well as c onvergent and discriminant associations with coping, emotion and perso nality variables are presented. Results of the analyses indicate that the ABI is a reliable and valid measure of two central coping dimensio ns.