SIGH, what's in a name? An examination of the factor structure and criterion validity of the (Structured Interview Guide for the) Hamilton Anxiety scale (SIGH-A) in a sample of African American adults with co-occurring trauma experience and heavy alcohol use

Abstract

The Hamilton Anxiety Inventory (HAM-A) is one of the oldest and most commonly used anxiety rating scales in clinical research. Despite its ubiquity, no studies have examined the scale's underlying factor structure and criterion validity among Black and African American adults with psychopathology (M_age = 42.25, SD = 11.44). Therefore, we estimated a confirmatory factor analysis of the commercially available Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Anxiety scale (SIGH-A; Williams, 1996) among African American adults (n = 88; 43% female) with co-occurring heavy alcohol use and trauma-related symptoms. Next, we examined the criterion validity of its Psychic and Somatic factors and overall anxiety severity score from participants who completed a single screening session (i.e., cross-sectional analysis) for a larger study. Results indicated that a two-factor solution provided an adequate fit to the data. Regression analyses indicated that the total SIGH-A score, but not its subscales, significantly predicted posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity. Neither the SIGH-A subscales nor total scores were significant predictors of alcohol consumption. The current findings suggest that the SIGH-A factor structure among African American adults with alcohol and trauma-related conditions is similar to previous reports that have tested largely White samples but highlight potential shortcomings when its subscales are used independently. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02884908.

Figure 1

Final Measurement Model Note. For Psychic Anxiety factor, Item 1 = anxious mood, Item 2 = tension, Item 3 = fears, Item 4 = insomnia, Item 5 = intellectual, Item 6 = depressed mood, Item 14 = behavior at interview. For Somatic Anxiety factor, Item 7 = Somatic (muscular), Item 8 = Somatic (sensory), Item 9 = cardiovascular symptoms, Item 10 = respiratory symptoms, Item 11 = gastrointestinal symptoms, Item 12 = genitourinary symptoms, Item 13 = autonomic symptoms. All factor loadings, correlation between factors, and error covariance are significant at p < .001.