Validation of the state-brief-penn state worry questionnaire

Intensive longitudinal designs, made possible due to the ubiquitous nature of smartphones, improve the ability to measure state and trait components of psychological processes like anxious arousal simultaneously. To maximize the potential of these designs, reliable and valid measures must be developed. We report the psychometric properties of a state version of the Brief Penn State Worry Questionnaire (SB-PSWQ) in 90 participants (M age = 29.14, SD = 12.21; 61.1 % Female). Participants completed a diagnostic interview and a battery of self-report questionnaires in one session, a series of cognitive tasks while hooked up to EEG equipment in another session and then participants completed two weeks of surveys sent five times per day to their smartphone. During these daily surveys, participants were asked to report current anxious apprehension, anxious arousal, and stressful life events. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), we found that a one-factor solution showed acceptable fit for the SB-PSWQ at both within- and between-persons levels. Further, between-person SB-PSWQ scores were positively associated with anxious arousal and anxious apprehension, but not symptoms of an alcohol use disorder, all measured at baseline. In addition, within-person SB-PSWQ scores were positively associated with within-person anxious arousal scores. The present study provides initial evidence for the validation of a brief measure of anxious apprehension to be used in intensive longitudinal designs.