Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory: a preliminary study

Purpose of the study was to present preliminary data on the Italian version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown & Steer, 1988). The BAI is a 21-item self-report inventory that measures the severity of anxiety symptoms. The BAI was developed to assess symptoms specific to anxiety and with a goal of minimizing overlap with depressive items. Methods: The Italian version of the BAI was administered to: a) a sample of 654 college students; b) fourty-three patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder, 17 with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and 50 non clinical controls. Alpha and test-retest reliabilities were computed along with associations with age and education. The BAI was subjected both to a Confirmative Factor Analysis and a second-order factor analysis. Convergent validity was ascertained by computing the correlations with measures of anxiety; criterion validity was evaluated by contrasting the BAI scores of the two clinical groups with the scores obtained by the control group. Lastly, the correlation between the BAI and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock & Erbaugh, 1961; Beck & Steer, 1987) was computed. Results: The BAI proved very reliable and fair stable measure. Gender, but not age, influenced the scores of the BAI. Confirmative factor analysis showed the best fit for a four-factor solution; however, a second-order factor analysis showed strong support for a higher order unidimensional structure of the BAI. Validity was confirmed by the significant association with measures of anxiety and the significant differences between the BAI scores of the clinical groups and the controls. Not surprisingly, a moderate association with the BAI and the BDI was found. Conclusions: The BAI showed good psychometric properties when applied to college students and to a small sample of patients. Further studies, especially on larger samples, are warranted to ascertain the psychometric properties of the BAI