a Department of Psychology , Harvard University , Cambridge , MA , USA.
b Psychological Science Research Institute , Université Catholique de Louvain , Louvain-la-Neuve , Belgium.
Anxiety Stress Coping. 2018 May;31(3):262-276. doi: 10.1080/10615806.2018.1439263. Epub 2018 Feb 13.
For decades, the dominant paradigm in trait anxiety research has regarded the construct as signifying the underlying cause of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that supposedly reflect its presence. Recently, a network theory of personality has appeared. According to this perspective, trait anxiety is a formative construct emerging from interactions among its constitutive features (e.g., thought, feelings, behaviors); it is not a latent cause of these features.
In this study, we characterized trait anxiety as a network system of interacting elements.
To do so, we estimated a graphical gaussian model via the computation of a regularized partial correlation network in an unselected sample (N = 611). We also implemented modularity-based community detection analysis to test whether the features of trait anxiety cohere as a single network system.
We find that trait anxiety can indeed be conceptualized as a single, coherent network system of interacting elements.
This radically new approach to visualizing trait anxiety may offer an especially informative view of the interplay between its constitutive features. As prior research has implicated trait anxiety as a risk factor for the development of anxiety-related psychopathology, our findings also set the scene for novel research directions.
几十年来，特质焦虑研究中的主导范式一直认为，该构念是构成思维、情感和行为的潜在原因，而这些思维、情感和行为据称反映了其存在。最近，一种人格的网络理论出现了。根据这一观点，特质焦虑是由其构成特征（如思维、情感、行为）相互作用形成的构成性构念；它不是这些特征的潜在原因。
在这项研究中，我们将特质焦虑描述为一个相互作用的元素网络系统。
为此，我们通过在未选择的样本（N=611）中计算正则化部分相关网络来估计图形高斯模型。我们还实施了基于模块性的社区检测分析，以测试特质焦虑的特征是否作为一个单一的网络系统凝聚在一起。
我们发现，特质焦虑确实可以被概念化为一个由相互作用的元素组成的单一、连贯的网络系统。
这种可视化特质焦虑的全新方法可能为其构成特征之间的相互作用提供一个特别有启发性的视角。由于先前的研究已经将特质焦虑确定为焦虑相关精神病理学发展的风险因素，我们的发现也为新的研究方向奠定了基础。
