Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ)

Abstract

The Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ; Gusler, Jackson, & Pederson, 2023) is an original inventory/questionnaire developed to capture participants’ subjective cognitive interpretations across various adverse life events. These events can range from severe traumatic experiences, such as sexual assault or chronic illness diagnoses, to milder adversities like caregiver separation or job loss. The AAQ measures appraisal styles for these events and was developed based on existing instruments like the Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM; Peacock & Wong, 1990) and the Trauma Appraisal Questionnaire (TAQ; DePrince et al., 2010). The 20-item AAQ was evaluated in a sample of adults, primarily African American women, recruited from an urban midwestern city as part of a larger federally funded project. The evaluation included analysis of factor structure, reliability, and validity. The AAQ aims to provide a comprehensive tool for examining how individuals cognitively interpret and respond to adversity, with implications for understanding emotion regulation difficulties and psychological symptomatology.

Keywords

Adversity, Positive Appraisals, Trauma Appraisals, Cognitive Appraisal, Trauma Reactions, Traumatic Experiences, Cognitive Measures, Trauma Measures

Authors

Gusler, Stephanie; Jackson, Yo; Pederson, Casey A.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ) is to assess participants’ patterns of subjective cognitive interpretations when encountering adverse events. This includes a broad spectrum of experiences, from significantly threatening or traumatic events like sexual assault or the diagnosis of a chronic illness, to potentially less severe adversities such as caregiver separation or job loss. The questionnaire aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of an individual’s appraisal styles in response to a variety of challenging life circumstances.

Validity

Concurrent Validity: The results of the evaluation indicated that the AAQ is an effective instrument for examining adversity appraisal styles across multiple adverse events. Furthermore, these appraisal styles were found to be significantly associated with difficulties in emotion regulation and a broad range of psychological symptomatology. This suggests that the AAQ’s measurements align with other relevant constructs and outcomes, supporting its utility in clinical and research settings.

Reliability

Internal Consistency: The internal consistency of the AAQ’s two factors demonstrated good reliability. For the “positive appraisals” factor, the internal consistency of individuals’ average responses was good, with an alpha (α) coefficient of .85. Similarly, for the “trauma appraisals” factor, the internal consistency was also good, with an alpha (α) coefficient of .83. These values indicate that the items within each factor are highly correlated and consistently measure the intended construct.

Factor Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis: Multilevel exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the AAQ. This analysis supported a two-factor structure both within and between individuals, representing “positive appraisals” and “trauma appraisals.” The model demonstrated acceptable fit, as indicated by its root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.068. The standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) also showed acceptable fit (within = 0.094, between = 0.10). Further investigation revealed that increasing the number of factors did not significantly improve the model fit indices or offer additional theoretical justification, thus reinforcing the robustness of the two-factor solution.

Instrument: Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ)

Test Type: Original

Format: The Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ) is administered for each of up to 10 significant adverse events that participants identify as having experienced (up to five from their childhood and up to five from their adulthood). Participants must endorse these events as important to them. For each selected event, participants respond to 20 items on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Each item probes participants about the reasons why the specific appraised event may be important to them, or how the participant feels when reflecting on that event.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older)

Population Details: The study participants were adult individuals recruited from an urban midwestern city in the United States. The majority of these respondents identified as African American women.

Test Methodology: The development and evaluation of the AAQ involved several methodological approaches including Test Validity, Concurrent Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, and Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Authors

Author OCRID Identifier: No data is Available

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Gusler, Stephanie: [email protected]

• Jackson, Yo: No data is Available

• Pederson, Casey A.: No data is Available

Correspondence Address:

Gusler, Stephanie: University of Kentucky, Center on Trauma and Children, 3470 Blazer Parkway, Suite 100, Lexington, Kentucky, United States, 40509, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: The Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ) may be used for research and teaching purposes.

Fee: There is no fee associated with the use of this instrument.

Test Year: The AAQ was developed and evaluated in 2023.

Files

No file is available.

References

Gusler, S., Jackson, Y., & Pederson, C. A. (2025). Appraisal styles for adverse life events: An examination of the Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire. Traumatology, 31(1), 19–28. doi:10.1037/trm0000486

Items of the Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ)

The Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ) consists of 20 items. These items are designed to elicit participants’ subjective cognitive interpretations and feelings regarding specific adverse events they have experienced. While the exact wording of all 20 items is not provided, the general nature of the items includes questions about why the event being appraised may be important to the participant or how the participant feels when thinking about the event. Participants respond to each item on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” The measure is divided into two primary subscales: “Positive appraisals” and “Trauma appraisals,” indicating that some items assess adaptive or constructive interpretations of adversity, while others focus on aspects related to traumatic responses.

Adversity Appraisal Questionnaire (AAQ)

Items

• The event is important for me because: It had a positive impact on my life.

• The event is important for me because: It had a negative impact on my life.

• The event is important for me because: I couldn’t stop this event from happening to me.

• The event is important for me because: I was responsible for what happened.

• The event is important for me because: When it happened, I could predict how the event was going to end.

• The event is important for me because: The event was expected, meaning, I knew the event was going to happen.

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Happy/joyful

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Sadness/grief

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Proud

• The event is important for me because: It had a significant impact on me, but it wasn’t long lasting.

• The event is important for me because: I felt that my life was threatened because of the event.

• The event is important for me because: It happened to me because of the sort of person I am.

• The event is important for me because: I had experienced the event before; I was familiar with it.

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Lonely

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Angry

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Embarrassed

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Anxious/afraid

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Guilty

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Shameful

• Thinking about the event makes me feel: Confused

Note. Items are rated from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).