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Anxiety sensitivity, its stability and longitudinal association with severity of anxiety symptoms.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety sensitivity is associated with the onset of panic attacks, anxiety, and other common mental disorders. Anxiety sensitivity is usually seen as a relative stable trait. However, previous studies were inconclusive regarding the longitudinal stability of anxiety sensitivity and differed in study designs and outcomes. The current study examines the stability of anxiety sensitivity over time and its longitudinal associations with severity of anxiety symptoms. Participants from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety with and without an anxiety, depressive, or comorbid anxiety-depressive disorder diagnosis were included (N?=?2052). Stability in anxiety sensitivity over two year follow-up and the longitudinal association between the change in anxiety sensitivity and change in severity of anxiety symptoms were tested. Results indicated that two-year stability of anxiety sensitivity was high (r?=?0.72), yet this test-retest estimate leaves room for changes in anxiety sensitivity in some individuals as well. Change in anxiety sensitivity was positively associated with change in severity of anxiety symptoms (B?=?0.64 in univariable analysis and B?=?0.52 in multivariable analysis). The longitudinal association of anxiety sensitivity with severity of anxiety symptoms indicates that targeting anxiety sensitivity may be of additional benefit in clinical practice.

SUBMITTER: Hovenkamp-Hermelink JHM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6416311 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Anxiety sensitivity, its stability and longitudinal association with severity of anxiety symptoms.

Hovenkamp-Hermelink Johanna H M JHM van der Veen Date C DC Oude Voshaar Richard C RC Batelaan Neeltje M NM Penninx Brenda W J H BWJH Jeronimus Bertus F BF Schoevers Robert A RA Riese Harriëtte H

Scientific reports 20190313 1

Anxiety sensitivity is associated with the onset of panic attacks, anxiety, and other common mental disorders. Anxiety sensitivity is usually seen as a relative stable trait. However, previous studies were inconclusive regarding the longitudinal stability of anxiety sensitivity and differed in study designs and outcomes. The current study examines the stability of anxiety sensitivity over time and its longitudinal associations with severity of anxiety symptoms. Participants from the Netherlands ...[more]

PMID: 30867472

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Project description:Anxiety sensitivity (AS), namely the fear of anxiety symptoms, has been described as a precursor of sub-threshold anxiety levels. Sexton et al. (2003) posited that increased AS would arise from an elevated neuroticism and that both would act as vulnerability factors for panic disorder (PD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms. Accordingly, this study aimed to (1) evaluate the applicability of this model to a pediatric population and (2) examine the influences of the other Big-Five personality dimensions on the four lower-order dimensions of AS (cognitive, physical, control, and physical) and on social phobia (SP), separation anxiety disorder (SAD) and depression symptoms. 200 children (104 girls) aged between 8 and 12 years old (mean age = 132.52 months, SD = 14.5) completed the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (Silverman et al., 1991), the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (Barbaranelli et al., 2003), and the Revised's Children Anxiety and Depression Scale (Chorpita et al., 2000). Regression analyses confirmed that AS and neuroticism together significantly predicted the presence of PD, OCD, and GAD symptoms but also SP, SAD, and depression symptoms. Moreover, neuroticism interacted with extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness to significantly predict SP, GAD, and depression. Surprisingly, the global AS score was only predicted by agreeableness, while AS dimensions also specifically related to openness. Finally, AS dimensions did not predict the presence of specific anxiety symptoms. To conclude, the predicting model of anxiety symptoms in children sets neuroticism and AS on the same level, with an unexpected influence of agreeableness on AS, raising the importance of other trait-like factors in the definition of such models. Moreover, AS should be considered as a unitary construct when predicting the presence of anxiety symptoms in children. Future interventions must consider these associations to help children detect and recognize the symptoms of their anxiety and help them to interpret them correctly.

Dataset Information

Anxiety sensitivity, its stability and longitudinal association with severity of anxiety symptoms.

Publications

Anxiety sensitivity, its stability and longitudinal association with severity of anxiety symptoms.

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