Author(s)

Ibrahim A. Kira^1,2*, Thomas Templin³, Linda Lewandowski⁴, Hanaa Shuwiekh⁵

¹Center for Cumulative Trauma Studies, Stone Mountain, GA, USA.
²Center for the Study of Stress, Trauma, and Resilience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
⁴The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA.
⁵Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.

Existential (annihilation) anxiety (EAA) and its significant role in PTSD, complex PTSD and mental and physical health, were a long ignored variable in the mainstream clinical science. Further collective EAA is one of the important dimensions missing in the theory and measurement of EAA. The study evaluated the psychometric properties of an existing measure of existential annihilation scale (EAA) (Kira et al., 2012b), that had previously developed based on an integrative framework of identity-based existential annihilation anxiety (EAA) that include most of the personal and collective dimensions of EAA. We reanalyzed the data in seven studies that utilized the measure, conducting exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis for the pooled data (N = 2436), as well as path analysis with EAA as a mediator of the effects of cumulative stress and trauma on PTSD. We conducted Multigroup invariance to test the invariance of the measurement model as well as the predictive structural model across groups. The short measure found to have good internal consistency and test-retest stability, as well as construct, convergent, divergent and predictive validity and is strongly invariant across the main groups. As hypothesized, by the integrated model of EAA, EAA fully mediated the effects of cumulative trauma on PTSD. The results confirm at least in part the validity and utility of the integrative conceptual framework. Further development of the measurement model in future studies was proposed to include fear of death that was not included in the evaluated measure and is one of the components of integrated framework of EAA. The importance of integrating EAA in the mainstream clinical science and intervention was discussed.

Existential Annihilation Anxiety, Collective Terror Management, Extinction Salience, Multigroup Invariance, Psychometric Properties, Identity

Kira, I. , Templin, T. , Lewandowski, L. and Shuwiekh, H. (2018) A Conceptual Model and Measurement of Identity-Based, Existential Annihilation Anxieties (EAA). Psychology, 9, 1306-1328. doi: 10.4236/psych.2018.96080.