Department of Psychology, University of North Texas.
Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California.
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2024 Feb;32(1):90-103. doi: 10.1037/pha0000668. Epub 2023 Jun 26.
Though anxiety sensitivity (AS)-fear of anxiety-related experiences-is primarily tied to anxiety vulnerability, AS has also been prospectively associated with general negative affect and depression. Furthermore, depression has been longitudinally associated with different forms of substance use, and some AS subfactors (e.g., cognitive concerns) have been associated more consistently with depression and substance use than others. However, no previous study has investigated if longitudinal associations of AS with substance use may be mediated by depression or whether aspects of AS may be prospectively associated with substance use among adolescents. Hence, the present study tested depressive affect (the negative affective aspect of depression) as a prospective mediator of AS associations with substance use and examined longitudinal AS subfactor associations with substance use and problems. High school 9th graders ( = 2,877; = 14.1 years; 55.3% female) completed self-report measures at baseline and at 6 months and 1 year later. Depressive affect mediated AS associations with subsequent alcohol, cigarette, electronic cigarette, cannabis, benzodiazepine, and opioid use. Also, AS cognitive and social concerns (vs. physical concerns) were more consistently associated with later depressive affect and substance use and problems. Current findings suggest that adolescents high in anxiety sensitivity tend to prospectively experience greater depressive affect, which in turn is related to a higher likelihood of engaging in several different forms of substance use. Thus, it is possible that interventions which target AS (particularly AS cognitive concerns) may help to treat or prevent depression and substance use among adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
尽管焦虑敏感（AS）——对与焦虑相关的经历的恐惧——主要与焦虑易感性有关，但 AS 也与一般的负面情绪和抑郁有前瞻性关联。此外，抑郁与不同形式的物质使用呈纵向关联，一些 AS 子因素（例如认知担忧）与抑郁和物质使用的关联比其他因素更一致。然而，以前没有研究调查过 AS 与物质使用的纵向关联是否可能受到抑郁的影响，或者 AS 的哪些方面可能与青少年的物质使用有前瞻性关联。因此，本研究测试了抑郁情绪（抑郁的负面情感方面）作为 AS 与物质使用关联的前瞻性中介，并检验了 AS 子因素与物质使用和问题的纵向关联。高中 9 年级学生（=2877；平均年龄为 14.1 岁；55.3%为女性）在基线和 6 个月及 1 年后完成了自我报告测量。抑郁情绪中介了 AS 与随后的酒精、香烟、电子烟、大麻、苯二氮䓬类药物和阿片类药物使用的关联。此外，AS 的认知和社会关注（与身体关注相比）与随后的抑郁情绪和物质使用及问题更一致地相关。目前的研究结果表明，焦虑敏感程度较高的青少年往往会前瞻性地经历更大的抑郁情绪，而这反过来又与他们更有可能从事几种不同形式的物质使用的可能性相关。因此，针对 AS（特别是 AS 的认知关注）的干预措施可能有助于治疗或预防青少年的抑郁和物质使用。
