Anxiety sensitivity moderates behavioral avoidance in anxious youth

Behaviour Research and Therapy
Eli R LebowitzWendy K Silverman

Abstract

Individuals who are high in anxiety sensitivity (AS) are motivated to avoid sensations of anxiety. Consequently, AS is hypothesized to contribute to overall avoidance of any feared stimuli. No studies have yet examined whether fear of a stimulus is a stronger predictor of behavioral avoidance in individuals who are high in AS compared to individuals who are low in AS. We examined whether AS moderates the association between fear of spiders and behavioral avoidance of spider stimuli in 50 clinically anxious youth. Fear of spiders significantly predicted avoidance of spider stimuli in youth high in AS but not in youth low in AS. These results provide support for the role of AS in avoidant behavior and help to explain the link between AS and the anxiety disorders. The results have implications for exposure-based anxiety treatments and highlight the importance of increasing anxious patients' ability to tolerate sensations of anxiety.

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Citations

Dec 1, 2017·Child Psychiatry and Human Development·Yaara ShimshoniEli R Lebowitz
Jun 16, 2017·Child Psychiatry and Human Development·Jessica L SchleiderWendy K Silverman
Apr 19, 2018·Child Psychiatry and Human Development·Dagmar Kr HannesdottirThomas H Ollendick
Aug 12, 2019·Child Psychiatry and Human Development·Juventino Hernandez RodriguezTimothy A Cavell
Sep 12, 2020·Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology : the Official Journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53·Rebecca G EtkinWendy K Silverman
Aug 28, 2016·Child Psychiatry and Human Development·Emily M Becker-HaimesJill Ehrenreich-May
Oct 24, 2020·Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology·Rany AbendDaniel S Pine

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