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Research Instrument Mental Health & Mood // PSWQ

Penn State Worry Questionnaire

16-item measure of the trait of worry. Scores range from 16 to 80; higher scores indicate greater worry severity.

Purpose Details Scientific Documentation Limitations Related

Purpose

Self-report research instrument, reproduced here under an open license for non-diagnostic educational, research, and self-reflection use.

Details

Administration
Self-Administered
Intended Use
Research

Scientific Documentation

Developer / Author
Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L., & Borkovec, T. D.
Development Year
1990

Theoretical framework: Measures generalized, trait-level worry, largely independent of the specific content being worried about.

Reliability: Original and subsequent studies consistently report high internal consistency (alpha generally above .90).

Validity: One of the most widely used and validated trait-worry measures; strongly associated with generalized anxiety disorder.

References: Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L., & Borkovec, T. D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28(6), 487-495.

Limitations: Imported from the OpenScales open item-bank project. This specific digital implementation has not been independently clinically validated by PsiQ — scores are for self-reflection, research, and educational purposes only, and are not a diagnosis.

License: Public Domain (https://camcops.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tasks/pswq.html). Citation: Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L., & Borkovec, T. D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28(6), 487-495. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(90)90135-6 This is not a diagnostic tool. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of self-harm, please contact a licensed mental health professional or a crisis helpline in your country immediately. Low/Moderate/High bands below reflect this test's own possible score range only (simple thirds) — they are NOT a clinical threshold or population norm. No such cutoff has been published for this instrument.

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