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This study described the psychometric properties of a self-report measure of functional impairment related to anxiety and depression in adolescents, the Adolescent Life Interference Scale for Internalizing symptoms (ALIS-I). A clinical sample of 266 adolescents and a community sample of 63 adolescents, aged 11 to 18 years (Mean = 14.7, SD = 1.71) completed the ALIS-I and additional measures assessing internalizing problems. Exploratory factor analyses indicated four distinct but correlated factors of life interference related to personal withdrawal/avoidance, peer problems, problems with study/work, and somatic symptoms. Reliability and retest reliability (8–12 weeks) of the total score were high and psychometric properties of the subscales were acceptable. The ALIS-I effectively discriminated between clinical and community control groups, and expected correlations were shown between ALIS-I subscales and other related symptom measures. The ALIS-I is a promising instrument for the assessment of functional impairment related to internalizing disorders in youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between stress beliefs and stressor appraisals has been limited by the absence of a comprehensive stress belief scale. This paper aimed to develop a new stress belief scale (the Subjective Thoughts REgarding Stress Scale; STRESS) and to assess the association between stress beliefs and stressor appraisals. Study 1: A pool of 75 Likert-type items assessing beliefs about stress and cognition, emotion, social factors, and behavior, was piloted on an international sample (N = 107); all items were found to reflect commonly held beliefs. Study 2: Exploratory factor analysis (N = 419), reduced the scale to 19 items over three factors (Consequences, Social Factors, and Coping Efficacy), demonstrating acceptable construct validity and internal reliability. Study 3: Confirmatory factor analysis (N = 300) replicated the factor structure in a new sample and demonstrated acceptable convergent and divergent validity. Study 4: Predictive validity (N = 137) was demonstrated with stressor appraisals and acceptable test-retest reliability over two weeks. This study provides evidence for both good psychometric properties of the new STRESS measure and predictive validity in terms of an association between stress beliefs and stressor appraisals. • Current stress belief measures do not correlate with stressor appraisals. • Current stress belief measures may have flaws in their development. • This four-study paper reports the development of a new measure, the STRESS. • The STRESS demonstrated satisfactory psychometric requirements. • The STRESS predicted five types of stressor appraisals of a stress induction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]