Positive and Negative Affect Schedule

The PANAS for Children (PANAS-C) was developed in an attempt to differentiate the affective expressions of anxiety and depression in children. The tripartite model on which this measure is based suggests that high levels of negative affect is present in those with anxiety and depression, but high levels of positive affect is not shared between the two. Previous mood scales for children have been shown to reliably capture the former relationship but not the latter; the PANAS-C was created as a tool with better discriminant validity for child assessment. Similar to the development of the original PANAS, the PANAS-C drew from terms of the PANAS-X and eliminated several terms with insufficient correlations between the term and the affective construct after preliminary analyses with a non-clinical sample of children. The final version of the measure consists of 27 items: 12 positive affect terms and 15 negative affect terms. Despite the purpose of its development, however, the measure’s discriminant validity is still wanting.[5]

The PANAS-SF, comprises 10 items that were determined through the highest factor loadings on the exploratory factor analysis reported by Watson et al. (1988) in his original PANAS. Previous mood scales, such that of Bradburn, had low reliabilities and high correlations between subscales. Watson was able to address these concerns in his study of the original PANAS; however, his participants consisted mostly of student populations. The purpose of the PANAS-SF was not only to provide a shorter and more concise form of the PANAS, but to be able to apply the schedules to older clinical populations. Overall, it was reported that this modified model was consistent with Watson’s.[2]

Separate from the PANAS-SF, Edmund Thompson created the international PANAS short form (I-PANAS-SF) in order to make a 10 item mood scale that can be implemented effectively on an international level, provide more clarity on the content of the items, reduce ambiguities, address the limitations of the original and the previous short form of the PANAS, and also to provide a shorter, yet dependable and valid scale. To determine the 10 items of the 20 original items, two focus groups were utilized to evaluate all of the original 20 PANAS items. They found that while some items were easily understood by the participant, certains items had different meanings or were too ambiguous. Items that had too much ambiguity were eliminated from the modified form. Researchers found that the I-PANAS-SF had high correlations with the original PANAS. Through multiple tests and studies, they were able to determine that the I-PANAS-SF was on par with the original scale and can be used as a reliable, valid, brief, and efficient instrument on an international scale.[6]

In 1994, Watson and Clark developed an expanded form of the PANAS, called the PANAS-X, that consists of 60 items that can be completed in 10 minutes or less. The PANAS-X incorporates the original, higher order dimensions specified in the PANAS in addition to the measures of 11 lower order emotional states. These measures are broken down into three main categories: basic negative emotion scales consisting of fear, hostility, guilt, and sadness; basic positive emotion scales consisting of joviality, self-assurance, and attentiveness; and other affective states consisting of shyness, fatigue, serenity, and surprise. Through extensive analyses, all eleven affective states, with the exception of surprise, were shown to be stable, valid measures that assess how an individual’s emotional states fluctuate over time.[7]