(PS4-A4) Psychometric Properties of the Brief Hypervigilance Scale and Its Relations to Trauma Exposure and PTSD Symptoms

Hypervigilance—the state of being excessively watchful for signs of danger— is a hallmark symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite the potential importance of hypervigilance to PTSD, relatively few measures of this construct have been developed, and until recently, those that did exist had only been validated in samples heavily affected by military trauma (Kimble et al, 2009, 2013; Knight, 1993). To our knowledge, the 5-item Brief Hypervigilance Scale (BHS) is the only brief self-report measure of hypervigilance designed for use with general population adults. However, to our knowledge, the BHS has yet to be validated outside an undergraduate sample (Bernstein et al., 2015). As such, the psychometric properties of this measure were examined in a large community sample of adults from the United States in the present study.

Participants, recruited via Amazon’s MTurk, completed the BHS and self-report measures of trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, and maladaptive trauma-related beliefs at baseline (Time 1 [T1]: N = 827) and four months later (Time 2 [T2]: N = 509). Bivariate correlations were calculated to examine retest reliability and convergent validity. One-way ANOVAs were used to compare differences in BHS scores based on differences in trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms, as well as differences in ethno-racial identity. Independent-samples t-tests were used to examine differences in BHS scores based on gender and sexual and gender-minority (SGM) identity. Factor structure and measurement invariance of the BHS were examined via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Retest reliability of the BHS was good (r = .69, p < .001). Convergent validity was found via large magnitude correlations of the BHS with PTSD symptoms and beliefs about threat (rs = .57 to .66, ps < .001). Trauma-exposed individuals with clinically relevant PTSD symptoms reported higher levels of hypervigilance than (1) participants without trauma exposure and (2) trauma-exposed participants without clinically significant PTSD symptoms (p < .001). No differences in hypervigilance were found based on gender or ethno-racial identity. SGM individuals reported higher levels of hypervigilance than non-SGM individuals, and this difference remained significant after controlling for PTSD symptoms (p < .01). CFAs supported modeling the BHS as a single factor and its measurement invariance across all demographic groupings.

The BHS is a brief, reliable, and valid measure of hypervigilance. It can be used among general community members and across a variety of demographic groups without differences in scoring or modeling. It may be beneficial in future research to examine the BHS among treatment-seeking samples and among minority populations who may demonstrate hypervigilance due to minority stress.