The anxiety attitude and belief scale: Initial psychometric properties in an undergraduate sample

The development of a measure of attitudes and beliefs intended to index a p sychological vulnerability to anxiety problems is described. Items for the Anxiety Attitude and Belief Scale (AABS) were developed by polling research ers and clinicians active in the area of anxiety disorders. The initial psy chometric properties of the resulting scale were examined in a sample of un dergraduates. The three factors underlying the AABS appear to index theoret ically interesting domains, and both the total and factor scores showed ade quate reliability. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the AABS ind exes a distinct, although likely overlapping domain from the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (A. N. Weissman and A. T. Beck, presentation at the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Chicago, IL, 19 78), a theoretically related scale of cognitive vulnerability to depression and other emotional disorders. Finally, a cross-lagged panel analysis indi cated no causal relationship between the AABS and depression. On the other hand, this analysis suggested a causal relationship between the AABS and an xiety, with prior AABS scores predicting later anxiety, rather than the rev erse. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.