Van Dam Nicholas T, Earleywine Mitch, Forsyth John P
University at Albany, SUNY United States.
J Anxiety Disord. 2009 Mar;23(2):256-9. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.07.008. Epub 2008 Aug 12.
Gender differences in measures of anxiety sensitivity (AS) are similar to gender differences across anxiety disorders; females exhibit higher levels of AS and a greater prevalence of anxiety disorders than males. The current study confirms higher scores on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) in females. Further analysis reveals, however, that gender differences on the ASI may arise from a single item's bias against women. Four different statistics examining differential item functioning (DIF) indicate that women are more likely to endorse the item, "It scares me when I feel faint", even if they score no higher on the ASI than males. Removing this biased item does not alter internal consistency of the scale, but eliminates the significant gender difference. The results suggest that differences on the ASI require careful interpretation as item bias may artificially inflate ASI scores in females.
焦虑敏感性（AS）测量中的性别差异与焦虑症中的性别差异相似；女性的AS水平更高，焦虑症患病率也高于男性。当前研究证实女性在焦虑敏感性指数（ASI）上得分更高。然而，进一步分析表明，ASI上的性别差异可能源于单个项目对女性的偏差。四项检验项目功能差异（DIF）的不同统计表明，即使女性在ASI上的得分并不高于男性，她们也更有可能认可“当我感到头晕时会吓到我”这一项目。去除这个有偏差的项目并不会改变量表的内部一致性，但消除了显著的性别差异。结果表明，由于项目偏差可能会人为提高女性的ASI分数，因此对ASI上的差异需要谨慎解释。
