E-ISSN : 2733-4538
Despite several factor-analytic studies of the Beck Anxiety Inventory(BAI), the number of factors and the specific items composing them are not entirely consistent. This study evaluated the fit of six competing models to data provided by a sample of 203 psychiatric patients to examine the factor structure of a Korean version of the BAI using confirmatory factor analysis. The modified hierarchical four-factor model fit the data well, whereas the other existing six models didn't. The finding suggests that the Korean BAI, like the original BAI, is hierarchically structured, with correlated first-order factors of subjective, neurophysiological, autonomic, and panic symptoms loading on a single second-order factor of general anxiety. It also indicated that they may be slightly different in the constellations of symptoms that make up the first-order factors. The reasons for the difference were discussed in terms of both the way Koreans experience or interpret anxiety and the possible errors in translation of some BAI items into Korean.