Need we measure anxiety differently for males and females?

Using 2 separate large samples of children (N1 = 957 and N2 = 3,885) and 1 smaller sample of adolescents and adults (N3 = 416), 3 studies of item selection for measurement of anxiety were conducted to determine if item selection differed across gender when traditional psychometric methods were applied. Applying a common set of item selection rules for males and for females, the same items were selected for inclusion on various measures of anxiety with differing item-response formats with comparable internal consistency reliability obtained using separate gender and combined gender samples. Standard psychometric methods indicate anxiety is measured in males and females about equally well and by essentially the same items.