Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of General Emotion Questionnaire-Contrast Avoidance Model

According to Contrast Avoidance Model, those suffering from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are afraid of severe emotional changes such as the transition from a good or neutral position to sudden unhappiness following a negative event. Also, the model shows that persistent worrying can be used to maintain negative emotions as a means of preventing a sudden change to negative in people with GAD.

This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the General Emotion QuestionnaireContrast Avoidance Model (GEQ-CAM).

Early, the GEQ was translated into Persian according to the translation instructions and using multistage cluster sampling. Initially, five universities located in Tehran were randomly selected, then from each of them, three different colleges were selected for the academic year of 2020. Afterward, 50 cases with GAD were selected using the convenience sampling method, yielding a total sample size of 576 (526 students and 50 cases with GAD).

General Emotion Questionnaire has an excellent level of internal consistency (α = 0.973) and test-retest reliability (0.986). This questionnaire indicated a positive and significant correlation with Penn State Worry Questionnaire (r = 0.804) and GAD-7 (r = 0.727), which indicates its appropriate convergent validity. Also, confirmatory factor analysis supported its 2-factor structure.

In accordance with previous studies, the findings suggested that psychometric properties of the Persian version of the General Emotion Questionnaire-Contrast Avoidance Model are acceptable; hence, this questionnaire can be used for research, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes.