anxiety

Identifying modifiable risk factors is requisite for preventing stress-related psychopathology, but few prospective studies have examined their impact on the emergence of psychological dysfunction. Trait anxiety (TA), anxiety sensitivity (AS), and experiential avoidance (EA) were assessed in 161 soldiers awaiting deployment. Soldiers also completed repeated in-theater assessments of stressors, post-traumatic stress (PTSS), anxiety, and depression symptoms. Multilevel models tested predictions that each trait would independently and jointly amplify stressors’ impact on symptoms.

To-date no models adequately address the higher vulnerability of women to anxiety pathology, in contrast to other disorders, such as depression where ruminative thinking has been identified as accounting for women's greater risk. This investigation examines the hypothesis that gender differences in coping, with women relying more on specific types of avoidance, may in part explain women's anxiety risk. Coping, experiential avoidance, anxiety symptoms, anxiety sensitivity and perceived stress due to life stressors were assessed in a community sample (N=456). Women were more likely to meet clinical screening cut-offs for anxiety disorders, report more symptoms and experience greater anxiety sensitivity than men.

Statistics coursework presents a significant challenge for college students, often associated with anxiety, which further inhibits performance. Applied to statistics anxiety and performance, the psychological flexibility model suggests that statistics anxiety may not inhibit performance when it is approached willingly in service of important values. The current study offered a preliminary consideration of statistics-related willingness and importance as moderators of the relationship between statistics anxiety and performance. Undergraduate students completed a measure of statistics anxiety, willingness to engage statistics, and the importance attributed to statistics engagement, then took a short statistics quiz.

Individuals diagnosed with an anxiety disorder report more physical health problems than those without an anxiety disorder. Few studies have examined the relation of anxiety disorders to later physical health symptoms, or the processes that may explain this relation. One process of interest is experiential avoidance (EA), which is commonly reported in populations characterized by high anxiety and often leads to health-compromising behaviors. The present study examined the relations between anxiety disorder diagnostic status, EA, and physical health symptoms in a community sample of young adult women. Results revealed a significant association between an anxiety disorder diagnosis and physical health problems four months later.