Elsevier

Behaviour Research and Therapy

Volume 45, Issue 9, September 2007, Pages 2247-2255
Behaviour Research and Therapy

Shorter communication
Does anxiety sensitivity predict symptoms of panic, depression, and social anxiety?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2007.02.008Get rights and content

Abstract

This study examined whether the lower-order factors of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) exhibited specificity in predicting symptoms of panic, depression, and social anxiety prospectively. This question was addressed using a sample of undergraduates stratified to represent low, medium, and high levels of anxiety sensitivity (AS). It was hypothesized that the physical concerns, mental concerns, and social concerns subscales of the ASI would predict increases in panic, depression, and social anxiety symptoms, respectively, one year later. Results found that the physical concerns subscale predicted increases in both panic and depressive symptoms. Neither the mental concerns nor the social concerns subscales predicted significant variance in any of the Time 2 symptoms. Theoretical implications of these data for AS are discussed.

Section snippets

Does anxiety Sensitivity Predict Symptoms of Panic, Depression, and Social Anxiety?

Anxiety sensitivity (AS), as articulated by Reiss and McNally's expectancy theory, is an individual difference variable characterized by the belief that anxiety results in negative consequences such as heart attacks, mental illness, embarrassment, or additional anxiety (Reiss & McNally, 1985; Reiss, 1991). Because of these fears, individuals who are high in AS worry about becoming anxious, which serves to increase their symptoms (Reiss, 1991; Taylor, Koch, McNally, & Crockett, 1992). Thus, AS

Participants and procedure

Ninety-four undergraduates (45 males, 49 females) were included who participated in a study of interpersonal functioning and social anxiety (Davila & Beck, 2002). Participants filled out the ASI during a mass testing session, and were selected such that the sample consisted of equal proportions of low (females scoring 10 or lower and males scoring 7 or lower), high (females scoring 30 or higher and males scoring 23 or higher) and moderate (scores in between the other two groups; Holloway &

Results

The research question was addressed using a path analysis with Mplus (Muthén & Muthén, 2004). We did not test a latent variable model, but used path analysis as a parsimonious way of estimating regression models simultaneously. Correlations between the variables and their means and standard deviations are shown in Table 2. Because of the high correlations between the ASI subscales and the symptom measures, covariances were added to control for these associations. Therefore, criteria used to

Discussion

The current study tested whether the ASI first-order factors would exhibit specificity in predicting symptoms of panic, depression, and social anxiety. The hypotheses only were partially supported. Specifically, the physical concerns subscale predicted increases in panic symptoms one year later, suggesting that individuals who report high levels of the fear of physical sensations of anxiety will report increases in their panic symptoms over time, supporting the vulnerability hypothesis.

Acknowledgments

This project was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 075130). The authors would like to thank Karen Kuba, Rhainnon Rager, and Michele Soon Tzan Tan for their assistance with data management, and the UB students who generously gave their time to participate in this project.

Portions of these data were presented at the 2006 meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Chicago.

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