Cautionary note on the use of short state-anxiety measures

The report noted that the use of high item-remainder coefficients as the sole criterion in the selection of items for short state-anxiety scales from full scales can lead to inaccurate interpretation of results. It was demonstrated that the use of a four-item state-anxiety scale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory A-State scale based on high item-remainder coefficients changed relationships in a previously reported study which used full-scale scores. It was proposed that such changes in relationships were the result of selecting four items which happen to load on only one of three dimensions of the A-State scale. The criterion of high item-remainder coefficents alone may be inadequate in the formation of short state-anxiety scales.