Measuring the behavioural manifestations of generalised anxiety in adolescents: applying network psychometrics to the worry behaviors inventory

Journal article

Background.
Research into Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) has historically focused on its cognitive and somatic elements, whilst behavioural manifestations have been overlooked. The development of the Worry Behaviors Inventory (WBI; Mahoney et al., 2016) addressed this gap, but this scale has not yet been validated for use with adolescents.
Aims.
This study evaluated the WBI’s psychometric properties in a community population of 13-18 year-olds.
Methods.
Four hundred and forty-five young people completed the WBI. Data were randomly split into two samples; exploratory graph analysis (EGA) was applied to the first, and the emergent structure was subsequently confirmed with factor analysis (CFA). Convergent and divergent validity, measurement invariance across gender and age, and the sensitivity and specificity of the WBI in distinguishing low and moderate/severe generalised anxiety, were assessed.
Results.
EGA identified a unidimensional structure with high consistency, and this was partly supported by CFA. However, pre-registered exploratory analyses revealed that the two-factor structure of the WBI (i.e., the original model identified in adult populations), also provided good fit to the data. Convergent validity was demonstrated, whilst evidence for divergent validity and measurement invariance was mixed.
Conclusions.
This study established the psychometric properties of the WBI with adolescents, providing empirical support for both uni- and correlated two-factor models. Implications for theory, practice, and further research are discussed – in particular, the scope for co-developing an adapted version of the WBI with input from young people with lived experience, that better aligns with the unique psychosocial context of adolescence.

Authors: Shipp, L; Leigh, E; McCall, A; Waite, P

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Journal: Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
• Acceptance date: 2026-09-10
• EISSN: 1469-1833
• ISSN: 1352-4658
• Language: English
• Keywords: behaviours; GAD; adolescents; psychometric; worry; exploratory graph analysis