# Individual Differences in Psychological Stress Associated with Data Breach Experiences
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Measures
#### 2.2.4 Data Breach Experiences  
Participants were asked to select the types of data breach incidents they had experienced from a list (e.g., email hacked, cloud storage hacked, sensitive photos posted by others) and then describe their most severe data breach incident (via text entry). They were also asked to estimate the recency of the incident (\"within the past month\", \"1-3 months ago\", \"3-6 months ago\", \"6-12 months ago\", \"1-2 years ago\", \"more than 2 years ago\"), if they continued using the breached application/service and, if so, for how long after the breach. Participants were asked about changes in their post-data breach security measures using five items (e.g., \"I started changing my passwords more often after the data breach\"; \"I became more careful about my online security after the data breach\"). Each item was rated on a scale from 0 (\"strongly disagree\") to 6 (\"strongly agree\"). A total score was created by summing the ratings for the five items, with higher scores reflecting greater changes in security measures following the data breach. [PERSON]'s alpha for this measure was 0.90. 2.2.5. Experiences with Anxiety and Depression  
Participants were asked about their experiences with anxiety and depression, including diagnoses (e.g., \"Have you ever been diagnosed with depression by a mental health professional?\"), medication usage (e.g., \"Are you currently taking prescription medication for anxiety?\"), and experiences with therapy (e.g., \"Are you currently taking part in therapy or counselling for depression?\"). 2.2.6. Negative Emotionality  
Negative emotionality was assessed using the negative emotionality scale of the Big Five Inventory-2 [26]. The negative emotionality scale consists of 12 items (e.g., \"I am someone who is temperamental, gets emotional easily\"), each rated on a five-point scale from 1 (\"disagree strongly\") to 5 (\"agree strongly\"). Higher scores indicate stronger negative emotionality personality characteristics (i.e., a greater propensity to experience negative emotions). The negative emotionality scale has excellent psychometric properties [29]. [PERSON]'s alpha for the current sample was 0.94. 2.2.7. Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7  
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7) [20] was used to measure symptoms of anxiety. The GAD-7 inquires about anxiety symptoms experienced during the previous two weeks (e.g., \"feeling nervous, anxious or on edge\"), with each of the seven items rated on a four-point scale from 0 (\"not at all\") to 3 (\"nearly every day\"). Total scores can range from 0 to 21, with higher scores representing a greater severity of anxiety symptoms. Scores of 5, 10, and 15 represent cut-off points for mild, moderate, and severe anxiety, respectively [20]. The GAD-7 has excellent psychometric properties [28]. [PERSON]'s alpha for the current sample was 0.93. The GAD-7 is commonly used to identify generalized anxiety disorder [20]. Higher GAD-7 scores are associated with higher trait levels of anxiety. 2.2.8. Penn State Worry Questionnaire  
The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) [27] was used to measure the propensity to worry. The PSWQ was developed as a trait measure for worry and measures the tendency, intensity, and uncontrollability of worry. The PSWQ is a 16-item scale, with each item (e.g., \"My worries overwhelm me\") rated from 1 (\"not typical at all of me\") to 5 (\"very typical of me\"). Higher scores represent a greater propensity to worry. The PSWQ has excellent internal consistency [30]. [PERSON]'s alpha for the current sample was 0.97. 2.2.9. Impact of Events Scale--Revised  
The Impact of Events Scale--Revised [24, 25] is a 22-item inventory used to assess event-specific subjective stress. Respondents are asked to identify a specific stressful life event and indicate how much they were distressed or bothered by each of the 22 difficulties listed (e.g., \"Any reminder brought back feelings about it\"; \"I felt irritable and angry\"; \"I had waves of strong feelings about it\"; \"I tried not to think about it\").