Lee Jane Jiyoun, Lowenthal Gabrielle, Jackson Yo
Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, Social Science Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, 202 Henderson Building, University Park, PA 16802 USA.
Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, 140 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802 USA.
J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2025;47(2):42. doi: 10.1007/s10862-025-10219-7. Epub 2025 May 26.
Appraisal refers to a cognitive process through which individuals perceive and interpret a given event. This study evaluated the factorial structure of the 22-item Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ) developed to assess the appraisal styles of an adversity exposed, community sample in response to their experiences with potentially stressful life events. Given that current assessment tools for appraisal are limited by scope and range of appraisal elements, the AAQ was developed as an amalgam of all currently available appraisal measures and includes questions about how adults think and feel about potentially adverse events in their lives. The measure also asks why a given event was or was not impactful or important for the respondent. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) reliably identified a three-factor solution indicating three broad dimensions of appraisal: Emotional Distress, Perceived Controllability, and Perceived Threat. Internal consistency estimates for subscales were evaluated using Cronbach's α (Emotional Distress: α = 0.94, Perceived Controllability: α = 0.79, Perceived Threat: α = 0.75). Findings suggested that the AAQ is a psychometrically reliable instrument for assessing adults' appraisal styles and may be useful in studies requiring a comprehensive measurement of adversity appraisal. To document how the new three appraisal factors might be related to other important mental health cognitive processes, the study also examined the relation to hostile attribution biases as an example. The findings indicated that emotional distress appraisals are associated with hostile attribution biases. Recommendations for future research are provided.
评估是指个体对特定事件进行感知和解释的认知过程。本研究评估了22项逆境评估问卷（AAQ）的因子结构，该问卷旨在评估一个经历过逆境的社区样本在面对潜在压力性生活事件时的评估方式。鉴于当前用于评估的工具在评估要素的范围和广度上存在局限性，AAQ是作为所有现有评估措施的综合而开发的，包括关于成年人如何思考和感受其生活中潜在不利事件的问题。该量表还询问给定事件为何对受访者有或没有影响或重要性。探索性因素分析（EFA）可靠地确定了一个三因素解决方案，表明评估的三个广泛维度：情绪困扰、感知可控性和感知威胁。使用克朗巴赫α系数评估分量表的内部一致性估计值（情绪困扰：α = 0.94，感知可控性：α = 0.79，感知威胁：α = 0.75）。研究结果表明，AAQ是一种在心理测量学上可靠的工具，可用于评估成年人的评估方式，并且可能在需要全面测量逆境评估的研究中有用。为了记录这三个新的评估因素可能如何与其他重要的心理健康认知过程相关，该研究还以敌对归因偏差为例研究了它们之间的关系。研究结果表明，情绪困扰评估与敌对归因偏差相关。本文提供了对未来研究的建议。
