Relations between anxiety sensitivity, distress tolerance, and fear reactivity to bodily sensations to coping and conformity marijuana use motives among young adult marijuana users.

The present investigation examines anxiety sensitivity, distress tolerance, and fear reactivity to bodily sensations in relation to Coping and Conformity marijuana use motives among a sample of young adult marijuana users (n = 135; 46.7% women; Mage = 20.45, SD = 5.0). After controlling for current marijuana use frequency (past 30 days), daily cigarette smoking rate, average volume of alcohol used over the past year, negative affectivity, and other marijuana use motives, anxiety sensitivity was significantly and uniquely associated with Coping and Conformity motives for marijuana use. Distress tolerance evidenced significant and unique incremental relations to Coping motives, whereas fear reactivity to bodily sensations was unrelated to any marijuana use motive. These results provide novel information related to the role of emotional sensitivity and tolerance factors as they pertain to specific types of motives for marijuana use among young adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Robust dimensions of anxiety sensitivity: Development and initial validation of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3.

Accumulating evidence suggests that anxiety sensitivity (fear of arousal-related sensations) plays an important role in many clinical conditions, particularly anxiety disorders. Research has increasingly focused on how the basic dimensions of anxiety sensitivity are related to various forms of psychopathology. Such work has been hampered because the original measure--the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI)--was not designed to be multidimensional. Subsequently developed multidimensional measures have unstable factor structures or measure only a subset of the most widely replicated factors. Therefore, the authors developed, via factor analysis of responses from U.S. and Canadian nonclinical participants (n = 2,361), an 18-item measure, the ASI-3, which assesses the 3 factors best replicated in previous research: Physical, Cognitive, and Social Concerns. Factorial validity of the ASI-3 was supported by confirmatory factor analyses of 6 replication samples, including nonclinical samples from the United States and Canada, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Spain (n = 4,494) and a clinical sample from the United States and Canada (n = 390). The ASI-3 displayed generally good performance on other indices of reliability and validity, along with evidence of improved psychometric properties over the original ASI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on early smoking lapse and relapse during a self-guided quit attempt among community-recruited daily smokers

The present investigation examined whether daily smokers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as compared to daily smokers with either anxiety psychopathology or no current Axis I psychopathology, have decreased success in the early phases of a self-guided smoking quit attempt. Participants were 140 daily smokers (81 women; M (age) = 29.5; SD = 11.9; range = 18-65 years); approximately one-third of the sample met criteria for current PTSD (n = 47), one-third met criteria for other current anxiety disorders (without PTSD; n = 33), and one-third did not meet criteria for any current Axis I disorder (n = 60). Consistent with prediction, membership in the PTSD group, compared to membership in the other anxiety disorders group and the group with no current Axis I psychopathology, was associated with increased risk of lapse during the first week following quit day. Additionally, daily smokers with PTSD and other anxiety disorders were at significantly increased risk of relapse during the first week post-cessation compared to persons without Axis I psychopathology. However, the PTSD group and the other anxiety disorders group did not differ from one another in terms of relapse. Results suggest that PTSD is associated with increased risk of smoking lapse and relapse compared to smokers with no current Axis I psychiatric problems, and increased risk of early smoking lapse but not relapse, as compared to those with other anxiety disorders. Findings provide novel evidence that PTSD, and perhaps anxiety disorders more generally, may be important factors in reducing the odds of successful unaided quit attempts in the early phases of cessation.     

Anxiety sensitivity and smoking motives and outcome expectancies among adult daily smokers: replication and extension.

The present investigation examined the incremental validity of anxiety sensitivity in the context of distress intolerance in terms of predicting smoking motives and outcome expectancies. Participants were a community sample of 144 daily smokers (85 women, M (age) = 29.72 years, SD = 11.96). Results indicated that above and beyond discomfort intolerance, Axis I diagnoses, gender, volume of alcohol consumption, and average number of cigarettes smoked per day, anxiety sensitivity significantly incrementally predicted habitual, addictive, and negative affect reduction motives to smoke, as well as negative reinforcement outcome expectancies. No such incremental effects were similarly evident for distress intolerance. Findings are discussed in relation to the role of anxiety sensitivity in smoking motives and outcome expectancies.     

Panic-relevant predictability preferences: A laboratory test.

In the present investigation the authors evaluated the role of verbally instructed safety periods as they relate to predictability preference within a single-session challenge paradigm involving recurrent administrations of 20% carbon dioxide (CO?) enriched air. Participants included 160 nonclinical young adults (91 women, 69 men) between the ages of 18 and 59 (M=21.6 years; SD=7.23). Results indicated that equivalent levels of anxiety were experienced during predictable and unpredictable administrations of 20% CO?, yet participants preferred predictable compared with unpredictable trials, with women showing a stronger predictability preference than men. Lower anxiety was reported during known safety periods (predictable room air trials) but not during predictable compared with unpredictable administrations of 20% CO?. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical and applied implications for the role of predictability in the nature of anxiety and its disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Offset control during recurrent 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air induction: Relation to individual difference variables.

Although control over aversive events maintains a central role in contemporary models of anxiety pathology, particularly panic disorder, there is little understanding about the emotional consequences of specific types of control processes. In the present study, offset control over 8 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air administrations was experimentally manipulated in a large nonclinical population (n?=?96) varying in anxiety sensitivity (high or low) and gender. Dependent measures included self-reported anxiety, affective reports of valence, arousal, emotional control, and physiological indices of heart rate and skin conductance. High anxiety-sensitive participants who lacked offset control reported significantly greater elevations in self-reported anxiety, emotional displeasure, arousal, and dyscontrol relative to their yoked counterparts with offset control. In contrast, low anxiety-sensitive individuals responded with similar levels of cognitive and affective distress regardless of the offset control manipulation. Although the provocation procedure reliably produced bodily arousal relative to baseline, at a physiological level of analysis, no significant differences emerged across conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taxometric and factor analytic models of anxiety sensitivity: Integrating approaches to latent structural research.

This study represents an effort to better understand the latent structure of anxiety sensitivity (AS), as indexed by the 16-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; S. Reiss, R. A. Peterson, M. Gursky, & R. J. McNally, 1986), by using taxometric and factor-analytic approaches in an integrative manner. Taxometric analyses indicated that AS has a taxonic latent class structure (i.e., a dichotomous latent class structure) in a large sample of North American adults (N = 2,515). As predicted, confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a multidimensional 3-factor model of AS provided a good fit for the AS complement class (normative or low-risk form) but not the AS taxon class (high-risk form). Exploratory factor analytic results suggested that the AS taxon may demonstrate a unique, unidimensional factor solution, though there are alternative indications that it may be characterized by a 2-factor solution. Findings suggest that the latent structural nature of AS can be conceptualized as a taxonic latent class structure composed of 2 types or forms of AS, each of these forms characterized by its own unique latent continuity and dimensional structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Posttraumatic stress disorder and anxious and fearful reactivity to bodily arousal: A test of the mediating role of nicotine withdrawal severity among daily smokers in 12-hr nicotine deprivation.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with high rates of smoking and fear of bodily perturbation. The current study examined the role of nicotine withdrawal in the association between PTSD and responding to bodily arousal among 52 participants (27 women; Mage = 30.50 years). Compared to participants without current axis I psychopathology, persons with current PTSD responded to a 3-min voluntary hyperventilation procedure with greater increases in anxiety and more intense cognitive and physical panic symptoms, despite no group differences in physiological arousal. Nicotine withdrawal demonstrated significant mediational effects in the relations between diagnostic group and panic symptoms elicited by the hyperventilation procedure. Findings suggest nicotine withdrawal is an important factor to consider in terms of better understanding the nature of fear responding to bodily sensations among persons with PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear reactivity to bodily sensations among heavy smokers and nonsmokers.

Individuals who smoke are more likely to experience panic attacks and develop panic disorder than those in the general population. One possible explanation is that smokers may experience a heightened fear response to somatic disturbances. To date, few laboratory studies have tested this hypothesis directly. The present study examined 24 adult heavy smokers (10 females) in 12-hr nicotine withdrawal and 24 adult nonsmokers (12 females) on subjective and physiological reactivity to a 4-min carbon dioxide rebreathing challenge. Results indicate that, despite an attenuated acceleration in respiration during the challenge, smokers experienced a significantly greater increase in self-reported panic symptoms than nonsmokers. In addition, smokers reported significantly greater trait levels of suffocation fear prior to the challenge. Findings are discussed with respect to the role of smoking in panic vulnerability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety sensitivity, acute nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and anxious and fearful responding to bodily sensations: A laboratory test.

The present investigation examined the moderating role of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in regard to the relation between acute nicotine withdrawal and anxious and fearful responding to a 10% carbon dioxide-enriched air (CO2) procedure. Ninety daily smokers (35 women; Mage = 28.87, SD = 12.12) were assigned randomly to one of two groups (12-hr nicotine deprivation or smoking “as usual”) and subsequently underwent a 10% CO2 provocation challenge. Partially consistent with prediction, results indicated that the AS by nicotine withdrawal (group status) interaction was significantly predictive of peri-challenge anxiety ratings (anxiety during the challenge), but not skin conductance reactivity. Findings are discussed in the context of the role of AS in amplifying smoking-based fear responses to bodily sensations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)