Florida State University, Tallahasee, FL 32306, USA.
Behav Ther. 2013 Mar;44(1):39-50. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2012.05.006. Epub 2012 Jun 12.
Emotion regulation difficulties have been implicated in the maintenance of many anxiety disorders. However, existing research has relied mostly on self-report measures of emotion regulation or one type of mood induction. The present study examined the relationships between anxiety symptoms and emotional reactivity and tolerance using multiple assessment methodologies. Participants (N=122) completed measures of generalized, social, and health anxiety symptoms and reported tolerance of and reactivity to negative emotions (sadness, fear, anger, disgust) elicited by 4 film clips. Participants also completed a mirror-tracing persistence task, a behavioral measure of distress tolerance. Social anxiety symptoms predicted unique variance in tolerance of film-elicited emotions, whereas generalized anxiety symptoms predicted unique variance in total peak reactivity to film-elicited emotions. Health anxiety was not related to tolerance or peak reactivity, but it was predictive of greater anxiety following the mirror-tracing task. The results of this study suggest heightened emotional reactivity is a salient feature of generalized anxiety symptoms, whereas emotional tolerance is more strongly related to social anxiety symptoms. The unique association between health anxiety and anxious response to the distress tolerance task represents a novel finding that warrants further investigation.
情绪调节困难与许多焦虑障碍的维持有关。然而，现有研究主要依赖于情绪调节的自我报告测量或一种情绪诱发。本研究使用多种评估方法来检验焦虑症状与情绪反应和情绪耐受之间的关系。参与者（N=122）完成了一般、社交和健康焦虑症状的测量，并报告了对 4 个电影片段引起的负面情绪（悲伤、恐惧、愤怒、厌恶）的耐受和反应。参与者还完成了镜画追踪坚持任务，这是一种衡量痛苦耐受的行为测量。社交焦虑症状预测了对电影诱发情绪的耐受的独特差异，而广泛性焦虑症状预测了对电影诱发情绪的总峰值反应的独特差异。健康焦虑与耐受或峰值反应没有关系，但与镜画追踪任务后的焦虑反应有关。这项研究的结果表明，情绪反应性增强是广泛性焦虑症状的一个显著特征，而情绪耐受与社交焦虑症状的关系更为密切。健康焦虑与痛苦耐受任务的焦虑反应之间的独特关联是一个新的发现，值得进一步研究。
