Differential assessment of emotions and moods: development and validation of the emotion and mood components of anxiety questionnaire

Abstract

Our research assessed whether mood and emotion can be measured as distinct constructs. Development and validation of the Emotion and Mood Components of Anxiety Questionnaire (EMCA-Q) is reported. We based the questionnaire on a subjective-contextual model of emotion-mood distinctions, which specifies that differentiation of the emotion of anxiety from an anxious mood should reflect an individual's awareness of the context in which the respective feeling states occur. In study 1, we describe the development of the 10-item, two factor EMCA-Q. In study 2, we use confirmatory factor analysis to provide support for the factorial validity of the scale. In study 3, we provide preliminary evidence of construct validity by demonstrating that students preparing to submit their thesis reported significantly higher scores of anxious emotion about their thesis than anxious mood. Findings suggested that emotion and mood might be distinguished empirically in line with theoretical predictions when subjective-contextual information used to distinguish between the two states was assessed.