Revisiting the fundamental fears: Towards establishing construct independence R. Nicholas Carleton a,⇑ , Michel A. Thibodeau a , Jason W. Osborne b , Steven Taylor c , Gordon J.G. Asmundson a a Psychology Department, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada b Department of Educational & Counseling Psychology, Counseling, and College Student Personnel, University of Louisville, Kentucky, United States c Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada article info Article history: Received 17 May 2013 Received in revised form 10 December 2013 Accepted 10 January 2014 Keywords: Anxiety sensitivity Fear of negative evaluation Injury/illness sensitivity Intolerance of uncertainty Pain-related anxiety Factor analyses abstract Reiss (1991) described three ‘‘fundamental’’ fears-anxiety sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, and injury/illness sensitivity-as distinct individual differences underlying fearful reactions. Taylor (1993) evi- denced the distinctions, but the results have not been replicated despite developments in theory and measures. Intolerance of uncertainty and pain-related anxiety have since been posited as similarly important, but not established as distinct. The present investigation assessed for the distinctions (1) uti- lizing contemporary measures; (2) included intolerance of uncertainty and pain-related anxiety; and (3) employed a stringent process for assessing independence. Undergraduates and community members (n = 993; 71% women) randomly completed questionnaires assessing the constructs, with a ‘‘standard’’ format (i.e., each construct assessed as a grouped set of items) or a ‘‘random’’ format (i.e., items from all constructs randomly interspersed). The undergraduates (n = 254; 76% women) also provided data for two-week test–retest reliability. Factor analyses and test–retest reliability supported construct inde- pendence and stability across presentation formats. Comprehensive results, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Anxiety sensitivity (AS), fear of negative evaluation (FNE), and injury/illness sensitivity (IIS) are long-standing constructs posited as individual differences that contribute substantially to anxiety- related psychopathologies (Reiss, 1991). Each construct purport- edly represents distinct, inherent pre-disposition underlying reac- tions to common situations (e.g., fear of flying; (Taylor, 1993). AS is the propensity to catastrophically appraise anxiety sensations associated with physical, mental, and social consequences (Taylor, 1999). AS has contributed to contemporary models for several complex symptom profiles (Olatunji & Wolitzky-Taylor, 2009). FNE is apprehension about being evaluated and is a hallmark of so- cial anxiety (Heimberg, Brozovich, & Rapee, 2010). IIS is the fear of physical harm (Carleton, Asmundson, & Taylor, 2005), studied in the context of specific phobias (e.g., fear of being injured by an ani- mal) and chronic pain (Thibodeau, Fetzner, Carleton, Kachur, & Asmundson, 2013). Taylor (1993) published the first attempt to assess Reiss (1991) hypothesis that AS, FNE, and IIS represent distinct constructs. Par- ticipants completed contemporary measures of each construct, each of which was demonstrated as distinct with exploratory fac- tor analyses (EFAs). Subsequent studies have furthered work by Taylor and Reiss, exploring distinctions between the fundamental fears and other constructs, including intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and pain-related anxiety. Indeed, IU appears crucial for anxi- ety-related psychopathology (Carleton, 2012), distinct from AS (Carleton, Sharpe, & Asmundson, 2007), and fits Reiss (1991) origi- nal fundamental fear criteria (Carleton, 2012). Similarly, pain-re- lated anxiety appears to represent an independent fundamental fear (Carleton, Abrams, Asmundson, Antony, & McCabe, 2009), facilitating chronic pain (Asmundson, Vlaeyen, & Crombez, 2004); however, pain-related anxiety may be only a manifestation of AS (Greenberg & Burns, 2003). Taylor’s (1993) findings have guided research and contempo- rary theory in several areas; however, there are reasons to re- examine his results. First, Taylor’s results have not been replicated. Second, the typical grouping of items in the form of questionnaires (i.e., items presumed to be related presented serially in groups) may have incidentally inflated estimations of construct indepen- dence. Third, the measures assessing each construct have since http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.040 0191-8869/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S0A2, Canada. Tel.: +1 306 337 2473; fax: +1 306 337 3275. E-mail address: nick.carleton@uregina.ca (R.N. Carleton). Personality and Individual Differences 63 (2014) 94–99 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid