title: A Prospective Examination of the Relations Between Emotional Abuse and Anxiety: Moderation by Distress Tolerance.
abstract: Anxiety, the most common and impairing psychological problem experienced by youth, is associated with numerous individual and environmental factors. Two such factors include childhood emotional abuse (CEA) and low distress tolerance (DT). The current study aimed to understand how CEA and low DT impacted anxiety symptoms measured annually across 5 years among a community sample of youth. We hypothesized DT would moderate the relationship between CEA and anxiety, such that youth with higher levels of CEA and lower levels of DT would have elevated anxiety over time. Community youth (N = 244) were annually assessed across 5 years using the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and Behavioral Indicator of Resiliency to Distress. Higher CEA at baseline was associated with higher anxiety at baseline, higher anxiety at each annual assessment, and with greater overall decreases in anxiety over time. Lower DT was associated with higher anxiety at baseline, but did not predict changes in anxiety over time. Baseline DT significantly moderated the relationship between baseline CEA and anxiety, such that youth with both higher CEA and lower DT had the highest anxiety at each annual assessment. Youth with lower DT and higher CEA scores had the highest level of anxiety symptoms across time.
authors: National Center for PTSD, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, 795 Willow Road (NCPTSD 324), Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA. anne.banducci@gmail.com.|Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, 1147 Biology Psychology Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA. anne.banducci@gmail.com.|Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research, University of Maryland, 2103 Cole Student Activities Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA. anne.banducci@gmail.com.
authors: Anne N
authors: AN
authors: Banducci
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, 1147 Biology Psychology Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.|Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research, University of Maryland, 2103 Cole Student Activities Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.|College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, The University of Kansas, Strong Hall, Room 200, 1450 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS, 66049, USA.
authors: C W
authors: CW
authors: Lejuez
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, 1147 Biology Psychology Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
authors: Lea R
authors: LR
authors: Dougherty
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, 1147 Biology Psychology Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.|Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research, University of Maryland, 2103 Cole Student Activities Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: MacPherson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D057566:Self Report; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*
keywords: Anxiety; Childhood emotional abuse; Distress tolerance; Gender; Longitudinal