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Anxiety Sensitivity and Age: Roles in Understanding Subjective Social Status among Low Income Adult Latinos in Primary Care

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Abstract

One social determinant of health construct that is reliably related to health disparities among the Latino population is subjective social status, reflecting subjective ratings of social standing. Yet, little research has explored factors that may undergird variability in subjective social status among this population or in general. Accordingly, the present investigation examined one possible etiological model wherein age moderates the relation between individual differences in anxiety sensitivity (fear of the negative consequences of stress sensations) and subjective social status among a Latino primary care sample. Participants included Spanish-speaking Latino adults (n = 394; 86.5% female; average age = 39.0 years). Results demonstrated an interaction between the anxiety sensitivity and age for subjective social status among the Latino sample. Inspection of the form of the significant interaction indicated that the association between anxiety sensitivity and subjective social status was evident among older, but not younger, persons. The current findings suggest that decreasing anxiety sensitivity, especially among older Latinos, may be one possible viable therapeutic approach to change subjective social status in order to help offset health disparities among this group.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 126 Heyne Building, Suite 104, Houston, TX, 77204-5502, USA

    Michael J. Zvolensky, Daniel J. Paulus, Jafar Bakhshaie, Kara Manning & Lia J. Smith

  2. Department of Behavioral Science, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Michael J. Zvolensky

  3. Legacy Community Health, Houston, TX, USA

    Monica Garza, Chad Lemaire & Melissa Ochoa-Perez

  4. Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Lorraine R. Reitzel

Authors
  1. Michael J. Zvolensky
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  2. Daniel J. Paulus
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  3. Jafar Bakhshaie
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  4. Monica Garza
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  5. Kara Manning
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  6. Chad Lemaire
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  7. Lorraine R. Reitzel
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  8. Lia J. Smith
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  9. Melissa Ochoa-Perez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael J. Zvolensky.

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No authors have any conflicts of interests or financial disclosures to report.

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by Institutional Review Board at the University of Houston.

Informed Consent

Informed written consent was obtained prior to initiating study procedures.

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No animals have been employed in this research.

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Zvolensky, M.J., Paulus, D.J., Bakhshaie, J. et al. Anxiety Sensitivity and Age: Roles in Understanding Subjective Social Status among Low Income Adult Latinos in Primary Care. J Immigrant Minority Health 20, 632–640 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0623-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0623-3

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