[The Beck Anxiety Inventory. Psychometric properties of a French translation]

Abstract

The Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) is a 21-item checklist developed with large clinical samples to measure anxiety symptoms associated with DSM III-R (APA, 1987) anxiety disorders. Administration and scoring are rapid; the patient rates symptom intensity during the last seven days on a 0 to 3 scale. The BAI adequately covers the major cognitive, affective, and physiological symptoms of anxiety. Care was taken during scale construction to eliminate items that would be confounded with depression items. The authors demonstrate excellent reliability and appropriate convergent and discriminant validity with other measures of anxiety and depression as well as criterion-related validity with in patient samples (Beck et al., 1988). The properties of the BAI have been further studied by Beck and collaborators as well as by other groups of researchers. Since its appearance in 1988 the BAI has quickly been adopted by clinical researchers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Five studies present psychometric data on a French translation of the BAI. The translation process involved alternative versions by three translators, a panel of experts, and pilot testing on a group of 20 volunteers. The first study with university students (N = 72) indicated good internal consistence (Cronbach's alpha = .85) and stability (r = .63) at four weeks. The second study (N = 91) demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity significant positive: correlations with measures of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, irrational beliefs, and depression; significant negative correlations with assertiveness and self-esteem, and non-significant correlations with two measures of social desirability.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)