title: Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI-3) subscales predict unique variance in anxiety and depressive symptoms.
abstract: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) has been implicated in the development and maintenance of a range of mental health problems. The development of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index - 3, a psychometrically sound index of AS, has provided the opportunity to better understand how the lower-order factors of AS - physical, psychological, and social concerns - are associated with unique forms of psychopathology. The present study investigated these associations among 85 treatment-seeking adults with high AS. Participants completed measures of AS, anxiety, and depression. Multiple regression analyses controlling for other emotional disorder symptoms revealed unique associations between AS subscales and certain types of psychopathology. Only physical concerns predicted unique variance in panic, only cognitive concerns predicted unique variance in depressive symptoms, and social anxiety was predicted by only social concerns. Findings emphasize the importance of considering the multidimensional nature of AS in understanding its role in anxiety and depression and their treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, PO Box 15000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2. Electronic address: janine.olthuis@dal.ca.
authors.forename: Janine V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Olthuis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Saint Francis Xavier University, Annex 103, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada B2G 2W5; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, PO Box 15000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2. Electronic address: mwatt@stfx.ca.
authors.forename: Margo C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Watt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, PO Box 15000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2. Electronic address: sherry.stewart@dal.ca.
authors.forename: Sherry H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Anxiety; Anxiety sensitivity; Depression