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