The convergent validity of the Phobia Origins Questionnaire (POQ): a review of the evidence

The Phobic Origins Questionnaire (POQ) [Öst, L.-G. & Hugdahl, K. (1981). Acquisition of phobias and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 19, 439–447.] is the most commonly cited instrument for determining the origins of phobic anxiety and data obtained using this instrument strongly support the role of conditioning in the acquisition of fear reactions. The construct validity of the POQ in assessing episodes of conditioning has been questioned [e.g. Menzies, R. G. & Clarke, J. C. (1994). Retrospective studies of the origins of phobias: a review. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 7, 305–318.] This paper examined the convergent validity of the POQ by comparing originsʹ classifications based on the POQ to classifications based on alternative instruments. The convergent validity of the POQ was found to be extremely poor. The POQ was consistently associated with a much greater likelihood of classifying the origin of fear reactions as due to direct conditioning episodes than was found using alternative instruments. The findings question the usefulness of the POQ in examining the origins of phobic anxiety.