Attentional Resource Allocation Scale (ARAS)

Author of Tool: 

Carleton, Abrams, & Asmundson

Key references: 

Bernstein, E.M., & Putnam, F.W. (1986). Development, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scale. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 174(12), 727-735.

Carleton, R. N., Abrams, M. P., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2010). The attentional resource allocation scale (ARAS): Psychometric properties of a composite measure for dissociation and absorption. Depression and Anxiety, 27, 775-786. doi: 10.1002/da.20656

Tellegen, A. & Atkinson, G. (1974). Openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences (“absorption”), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 83(3), 268-277.

Primary use / Purpose: 

The Attentional Resource Allocation Scale (ARAS; Carleton, Abrams, & Asmundson, 2010) is a 15-item measure designed to assess the attention-modifying trait constructs of absorption and dissociation with items ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (always) derived from the DES (Bernstein & Putnam, 1986) and TAS (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974).

Background: 

Initial analyses of the Attentional Resource Allocation Scale (ARAS) suggested three factors (i.e., imaginative involvement, dissociative amnesia, attentional dissociation).

Psychometrics: 

The ARAS has been shown to have acceptable internal consistency in undergraduate (α=.85) and community samples (α=.91; Carleton et al., 2010).

Keywords: 

• Anxiety
• Family

Files: 

ARAS

Other Information: 

Scoring:
Imaginative Involvement Subscale: items 1,3 , 8, 9, 10, 12
Dissociative Amnesia Subscale: items 2, 5, 7, 11, 13
Attentional Dissociation Subscale: items 4, 6, 14, 15
Total score is often used, however.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 

https://dx.doi.org/10.13072/midss.251