Dimensionality of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and its brief versions

Abstract

Worry, a form of experiential avoidance, has been studied using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ). The aim of the present study was to assess the dimensionality of the PSWQ and three of its brief versions. The full PSWQ was administrated to 290 Peruvian undergraduate students. In order to achieve that goal, we examined the factor structure and reliability of six models: one-dimensional, oblique, bifactor, the PSWQ-11, the PSWQ-A and the PSWQ-5. The results suggest that the PSWQ is an essentially one-dimensional measure and it functions better without reversed items. Likewise, brief versions were found to have similarly adequate psychometric properties.