Evidence of validity and reliability of the Generalized Anxiety Disorders Inventory in Mexican university students

Abstract

The present study analyses the psychometric properties, in university men and women, proposed for Blanco et al. (2017) to the Spanish version of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Inventory. The overall sample consisted of 1220 subjects: 640 women and 580 men, with a mean age of 20.40 years (SD= 1.92) and 20.54 years (SD= 2.04) respectively. Psychometric analysis showed that a tri-factorial structure (cognitive symptoms, sleep disorders and somatic symptoms) was viable and adequate for both populations (men and woman) according to the established psychometric requirements. The results showed that factor structure, factor loadings and intercepts of the instrument could be considered invariant across groups; however, there are differences between groups for the means of factors cognitive anxiety and somatic symptoms.