A Psychometric Analysis of the Worry Behaviors Inventory with a Community Adolescent Population
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), characterised by chronic and excessive worry, is one of the most common anxiety disorders in adolescents (NHS Digital, 2018). The majority of existing research has focused on the cognitive aspects of GAD, reflecting the fact that it is the only anxiety disorder which is not classified by behavioural criterion in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This is at odds with theoretical models of GAD, in which avoidance behaviours are suggested to prevent the disconfirmation of dysfunctional beliefs (e.g., Dugas et al., 1998; Wells, 1995), and with evidence that adults with GAD engage in significantly more avoidance than non-anxious controls (Beesdo-Baum et al., 2012). The Worry Behaviors Inventory (Mahoney et al., 2016) is a 10-item self-report measure that was developed to capture the behavioural features of GAD in adults. It consists of two subscales assessing safety behaviours (e.g., “I make plans ‘just in case’”) and avoidance (e.g., “I avoid saying or doing things that worry me”). Its psychometric properties have been established in adult community (Mahoney et al., 2018b) and clinical samples of patients with anxiety and/or depression (Mahoney et al., 2016, 2018a, 2018b), with results showing that the measure has a stable two-factor structure, acceptable validity, and treatment sensitivity. Additionally, item response analysis has found that in a population of adults seeking treatment for symptoms of GAD, 'hypervigilance', 'checking', and the 'avoidance of saying or doing things that are worrisome' can distinguish between individuals with low, moderate, and high levels of safety behaviours and avoidance (Mahoney et al., 2018a). However, no studies have evaluated the psychometric properties of the WBI with an adolescent population. This gap in the literature should be addressed, given that the WBI has high levels of clinical utility, potential as a screening tool in community samples, and the possibility to provide much needed insight into the mechanisms that maintain the symptoms of GAD in young people. In this study, we will analyse the psychometric properties of the WBI using data from a community sample of adolescents aged 13-18 years.
Source: OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
Authors: Lottie Shipp, Eleanor Leigh, Amy McCall, Polly Waite
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7112815520