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Anxiety Sensitivity Factor Structure Among Brazilian Patients with Anxiety Disorders

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Abstract

Anxiety sensitivity (i.e., fear of arousal-related bodily sensations, including sensations that arise from normal physiological processes, due to the personal belief that these sensations will produce harmful consequences) is an important psychological construct involved in the etiology and maintenance of different anxiety disorders. The present study evaluated the psychometric proprieties and the factor structure of the 18-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3) among 585 Brazilian patients with primary anxiety disorder diagnosis. Results indicated good internal consistency and item-total correlation coefficients. Exploratory factor analyses suggested a hierarchical structure composed of a single higher-order factor and three lower-order factors related to physical, cognitive and social concern. ASI-3 score comparisons across the different anxiety disorder groups indicated that panic disorder patients produced significantly higher overall ASI-3 scores as well as on the physical and social subscales.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22453-900, Brazil

    Maria Rachel Pessanha Gimenes Escocard & Ana Carolina Monnerat Fioravanti-Bastos

  2. Laboratório de Análise de Dados- LAND, Departamento de Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22453-900, Brazil

    J. Landeira-Fernandez

  3. Universidade Estácio de Sá, Campus Akxe, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    J. Landeira-Fernandez

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  1. Maria Rachel Pessanha Gimenes Escocard
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  2. Ana Carolina Monnerat Fioravanti-Bastos
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  3. J. Landeira-Fernandez
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Correspondence to J. Landeira-Fernandez.

Additional information

This research was supported by CNPq grant 522720-95-1. MRPGE and ACMFB were awarded with a CNPq fellowship. The authors would like to thank Paulo Fernando H. Britto (PUC-Rio) and Silésia Delphino Tosi (Casa do Psicólogo) for hel** the translation of the ASI-R. Thanks are also due to Cilio Ziviani for the critical reading of the manuscript.

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Escocard, M.R.P.G., Fioravanti-Bastos, A.C.M. & Landeira-Fernandez, J. Anxiety Sensitivity Factor Structure Among Brazilian Patients with Anxiety Disorders. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 31, 246–255 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-008-9103-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-008-9103-3

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