Anxiety Sensitivity and Distress Tolerance Predict Changes in Internalizing Symptoms in Individuals Exposed to Interpersonal Trauma

College students demonstrate high rates of depression and anxiety, particularly among students with self-reported history of trauma exposure. Neuroticism, a personality trait characterized by emotional instability and negative affect, is consistently associated with internalizing symptoms; however, our understanding of malleable risk characteristics that help to clarify these associations between neuroticism and internalizing symptoms is limited. The current study investigated whether anxiety sensitivity (AS) and/or distress tolerance (DT) would predict changes in internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety), beyond the effects of neuroticism, in a high-risk sample of college students.

Participants were 316 college students (75.9% women) with self-reported history of interpersonal trauma exposure who participated in a university-wide longitudinal study of emotional health. Participants completed assessments of personality, AS, DT, depression, and anxiety over three time points spanning an average of 26 months.

Results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that higher AS predicted increases in depression and anxiety, and lower DT predicted increases in depression and anxiety (controlling for neuroticism). Neuroticism did not predict changes in depression or anxiety.

These findings contribute to our understanding of the role of AS and DT in the development of depression and anxiety in trauma-exposed college students.