Beck Anxiety Inventory ( BAI )

1. While many items tap the somatic symptoms of anxiety, this measure fails to assess other anxiety symptoms that commonly appear in trauma-exposed individuals. 2. A number of researchers have suggested that the BAI may be tapping more physiological aspects of anxiety such as panic. The physiological aspect of anxiety is, however, an important aspect to assess in PTSD, given the high comorbidity of PTSD and panic and research studies showing that many individuals experience panic symptoms during trauma exposure and that such symptoms are related to later symptomatology (Bryant & Panasetis, 2001; Nixon & Bryant, 2003). 3. BAI symptoms have been found to be associated with measures of health status (Wetherell & Gatz, 2005), suggesting that in samples with health problems (e.g., medical trauma) an anxiety measure that taps cognitive rather than somatic aspects of anxiety may be important. 4. Given the research suggesting that females score higher than males, separate norms are needed by gender. 5. Psychometric studies involving U.S. adolescents have involved predominantly White samples. More research is needed involving samples with greater ethnic and socioeconomic diversity.