Fear and perceived uncontrollability of emotion: Evaluating the unique contribution of emotion appraisal variables to prediction of worry and generalised anxiety disorder

Novel theoretical frameworks place the symptom profile of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) within the context of dysfunctional emotional processes. It is suggested that fear and intolerance of emotions exacerbate subjective distress and motivate the use of maladaptive coping strategies, such as worry. To date, studies evaluating these models have suffered two key limitations. Firstly, few studies have involved treatment-seeking samples, and secondly, none have evaluated the unique variance attributable to emotion appraisal variables above and beyond previously established predictors of worry and GAD. The present study begins to address these limitations by assessing the contribution of fear and perceived uncontrollability of emotions in predicting worry and clinical GAD status after controlling for variance attributable to depressive symptoms, meta-cognitive beliefs, intolerance of uncertainty, and perceptions of external threat. Supporting current models, results showed that perceived control over emotional reactions was a unique predictor of GAD diagnostic status and both clinical and non-clinical worry.     

The structure of negative emotions in adolescents

This study examined the structure of negative emotions in a sample of nonclinical adolescents, using an approach that exclusively relied on child self-report. A large sample of adolescents (N = 968) completed self-report questionnaires measuring symptoms of fear, anxiety, and depression. Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the notion that fear, anxiety, and depression are distinct yet correlated components of negative emotions. This result is in agreement with recent empirical findings and current theoretical notions on the structure of negative emotions in children and should be taken as an encouragement for researchers to develop more specific measures for assessing fear, anxiety, and depression in children.     

Intolerance of Uncertainty, Fear of Anxiety, and Adolescent Worry

A 5 year, ten wave longitudinal study of 338 adolescents assessed the association between two forms of cognitive vulnerability (intolerance of uncertainty and fear of anxiety) and worry. Multilevel mediational analyses revealed a bidirectional and reciprocal relation between intolerance of uncertainty and worry in which change in one variable partially explained change in the other. Fear of anxiety and worry also showed evidence of a bidirectional relation, although change in fear of anxiety had a much weaker mediational effect on change in worry than vice versa. The findings show that relative to fear of anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty may play a greater role in the etiology of worry in adolescents.     

Instance-based clusters of fear and anxiety: is ambiguity an essential dimension?

Students rated instances of fear-like emotions on 34 attributes related to distinctions between fear and anxiety in the literature, and then on relative degree of fear vs anxiety produced. Instances rated most fear-like had been rated as higher than more anxiety-like instances in terms of clarity and reality of causes, but lower in terms of the clarity of understanding the situation and knowing what to do when in it. There were two distinct clusters of fear-like instances and two distinct "anxiety clusters;" the two fear clusters were more different from each other than from the two anxiety clusters in terms of ratings on these clarity-related attributes. Analysis suggested (a) that "pure fear" is less vague than anxiety in some ways but more vague in other ways and (b) that comparisons have to be qualified because emotion-labels usually encompass more than one kind of emotion. However, differences in present-centeredness and other factors may be reliable and general.     

Beyond test anxiety: Development and validation of the test emotions questionnaire (TEQ)

Measures of test emotions other than test anxiety are lacking. In a series of six studies, we developed a multi-scale questionnaire assessing test-related joy, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, and hopelessness (Test Emotions Questionnaire, TEQ). Consisting of subscales measuring affective, cognitive, physiological, and motivational emotion components, the scales can be used to identify both trait and state test emotions, and are available in German- and English-language versions. Using a rational-empirical strategy of test construction, we first developed theoretical models of the component structures, antecedents, and effects of different test emotions. We then conducted two exploratory, qualitative studies on the occurrence and structures of these emotions. Finally, based on theory and our exploratory data, we constructed, analyzed, and revised the scales of the TEQ in four quantitative studies. Findings of correlational and confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the scales are reliable, structurally valid in terms of representing different test emotions and components within emotions, and externally valid in terms of correlating significantly with personality, learning, academic achievement, and perceived health problems. Many of these correlations proved to be stronger for test emotions other than anxiety, implying that test anxiety is neither the only relevant test emotion, nor necessarily the most important one.     

Mastery matters most: How mastery and positive relations link attachment avoidance and anxiety to negative emotions

Attachment avoidance and anxiety are associated with negative emotions. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not fully understood. We investigated environmental mastery and positive relations with others as two mechanisms behind the attachment–emotion link in a sample of 343 adults. As predicted, attachment avoidance and anxiety were related to greater fear, hostility, envy and depression through lower mastery. Contrary to our hypothesis, positive relations mediated only the attachment–depression link. In addition, by adopting a moderated mediation approach, we were able to show that mastery mattered most for individuals high on avoidance: The indirect effect of avoidance through lack of mastery on fear, hostility and depression (but not on envy) increased with higher avoidance scores. Contrary to our predictions, poor relationships did not matter more as sources of negative emotions as anxiety increased. These findings underscore that the emotional life of avoidantly attached individuals is especially jeopardised by poor mastery.     

Emotion,Decision, and Risk: Betting on Gambles versus Betting on People

We examined the effects of two emotions, fear and anger, on risk‐taking behavior in two types of tasks: Those in which uncertainty is generated by a randomizing device (“lottery risk”) and those in which it is generated by the uncertain behavior of another person (“person‐based risk”). Participants first completed a writing task to induce fear or anger. They then made choices either between lotteries (Experiment 1) or between actions in risky two‐person decisions (Experiments 2 and 3). The experiments involved substantial real‐money payoffs. Replicating earlier studies (which used hypothetical rewards), Experiment 1 showed that fearful participants were more risk‐averse than angry participants in lottery‐risk tasks. However—the key result of this study—fearful participants were substantially less risk‐averse than angry participants in a two‐person task involving person‐based risk (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 offered options and payoffs identical to those of Experiment 2 but with lottery‐type risk. Risk‐taking returned to the pattern of Experiment 1. The impact of incidental emotions on risk‐taking appears to be contingent on the class of uncertainty involved. For lottery risk, fear increased the frequency of risk‐averse choices and anger reduced it. The reverse pattern was found when uncertainty in the decision was person‐based. Further, the effect was specifically on differences in willingness to take risks rather than on differences in judgments of how much risk was present. The impact of different emotions on risk‐taking or risk‐avoiding behavior is thus contingent on the type, as well as the degree, of uncertainty the decision maker faces. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impact of “Scary” TV and Film on Children's Internalizing Emotions: A Meta‐Analysis

Despite a general perception that violent or scary television creates anxiety in children, the research literature is small and disparate. A meta‐analysis quantifies the impact of scary television and film on children's internalizing emotions (fear, anxiety, sadness, and sleep problems). Scary television has a relatively small impact on children's internalizing emotions (r = .18) overall, and this association was not significantly moderated by whether the televised material was factual (e.g., news) or fictional or contained violence. Children under 10 were more susceptible to scary TV. The overall result contrasts with the dramatic effects found for individual children within studies, suggesting that research is needed to unpick the factors that moderate the effect that scary television has on children.     

Intrusive memories in depression and posttraumatic stress disorder

This study compared the stressors and consequent intrusive memories reported by matched samples of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression. Although intrusive memories were slightly more common among PTSD patients, both quantitative and qualitative measures revealed few differences between the groups. PTSD patients were more likely to have experienced personal illness or assault, and depressed patients family deaths and illness, and interpersonal events. Factor analysis of the associated emotions and memory characteristics suggested the existence of specific links between fear and reliving, and helplessness and out-of-body experiences. Possible inhibitory relationships between fear and sadness, and between guilt and anger, were also noted.     

The role of negative affectivity and negative reactivity to emotions in predicting outcomes in the unified protocol for the transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders

The present study aimed to understand the contributions of both the trait tendency to experience negative emotions and how one relates to such experience in predicting symptom change during participation in the Unified Protocol (UP), a transdiagnostic treatment for emotional disorders. Data were derived from a randomized controlled trial comparing the UP to a waitlist control/delayed-treatment condition. First, effect sizes of pre- to post-treatment change for frequency of negative emotions and several variables measuring reactivity to emotional experience (emotional awareness and acceptance, fear of emotions, and anxiety sensitivity) were examined. Second, the relative contributions of change in negative emotions and emotional reactivity in predicting symptom (clinician-rated anxiety, depression, and severity of principal diagnosis) reductions were investigated. Results suggested that decreases in the frequency of negative emotions and reactivity to emotions following participation in the UP were both large in magnitude. Further, two emotional reactivity variables (fear of emotions and anxiety sensitivity) remained significantly related to symptom outcomes when controlling for negative emotions, and accounted for significant incremental variance in their prediction. These findings lend support to the notion that psychological health depends less on the frequency of negative emotions and more on how one relates to these emotions when they occur.     

Fear and anxiety as separable emotions: an investigation of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality

The Gray and McNaughton (2000) theory draws on a wide range of animal data to hypothesize that the emotions of fear and anxiety are separable. The authors tested their hypothesis in two studies. The first study examined associations between scores on questionnaire measures of fear, anxiety, and neuroticism; correlational analysis revealed that fear and anxiety are not interchangeable constructs. The second study examined associations between scores on questionnaire measures of fear/anxiety and performance in a military training setting; regression analysis revealed that fear captured significant variance in performance that was not shared with anxiety. These results imply that hypotheses derived from nonhuman animal data may hold important implications for understanding human emotion and motivation, especially in relation to fear and anxiety.     

Social phobia features across the DSM-III-R anxiety disorders

One hundred sixty subjects meeting DSM-III-R criteria for the five major anxiety disorders were compared on the extent to which they reported features characteristic of social phobia. The results indicated that many patients in the anxiety disorder categories experience some degree of social anxiety. The differences between subjects with a primary diagnosis of social phobia and subjects with other anxiety disorders appear to be chiefly quantitative on this feature. Compared to the other anxiety disorders, social phobics report fear and avoidance in response to a greater number of social situations and report greater interference in their lives due to social phobic concerns. Among the anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety disorder appears to be associated with the greatest degree of social anxiety, and simple phobia with the least.     

"When it's just me at home, it hits me that I'm completely alone": an online survey of adolescents in self-care

The present study examined adolescents' experiences of loneliness and solitude in their responses to an online survey on self-care. Both quantitative (n = 272) and qualitative (n = 150) responses were coded for these feelings when home alone. Results indicate that adolescents experience the duality of aloneness, including both positive solitude and negative loneliness. Adolescents' responses range from embraced solitude and self-care to feelings of loneliness and rejection of time by themselves. Adolescents reporting loneliness were significantly less likely to enjoy being home alone during the day and at night (p < or = .001). Also, gender, age, and emotions such as fear, boredom, and separation anxiety are associated with loneliness among adolescents in self-care. Interventions to increase connectedness and combat loneliness during out-of-school hours are recommended.     

Patterns of emotional responses to affective situations: Relations among happiness,sadness, anger,fear, depression,and anxiety

Although emotion research and clinical practice often implicitly entail judgments about the patterns and situational appropriateness of a person's emotional reactions, we have little empirical knowledge of how emotions typically interrelate during various affective situations. To assess patterns of response to normative situations, a questionnaire was constructed and validated to include items primarily eliciting one of six emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, depression, and anxiety) and one of three intensities (low, moderate, and high). A total of 216 persons rated one of four forms of the questionnaire on each of the six emotional categories. Each of the six types of situations generated significantly different patterns of emotion. As Izard (1972) predicted, depression situations elicited more complex patterns of emotion than sadness situations, including significantly more anger, fear, and anxiety. In contrast, anxiety situations did not elicit more complex patterns than fear situations. Rather, the evidence was more consistent with the conclusion that fear is a particular type of anxiety. Various other relations among specific emotions are discussed, as well as some subtle sex differences and intensity effects. The data highlight the sensitivity with which the assessment of patterns of emotions associated with specific situations can produce new information about the nature of affective experience.     

Willingness to express emotion: The impact of relationship type,communal orientation,and their interaction

This research examines the effects of relationship type (close vs. business), a personality variable (dispositional communal orientation), and the interaction of these two variables on individuals’ willingness to express emotions to relationship partners. Results supported our predictions that (a) people are willing to express more emotion in relationships likely to be high in communal strength than in relationships likely to be low in communal strength, (b) individuals high in communal orientation are willing to express more emotion than those who are low in communal orientation, and (c) relationship type and communal orientation interact to influence willingness to express two emotions that reveal weakness and vulnerability (fear and anxiety). Specifically, communal orientation had little effect on willingness to express fear and anxiety in business relationships, whereas high relative to low communal orientation was associated with willingness to express more fear and anxiety within close relationships.     

The role of fear of anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty in worry: An experimental manipulation

The tendency to fear emotional experiences, such as anxiety, may be an important factor in the maintenance of excessive worry, which is the central feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The goal of the present study was to clarify the role of fear of anxiety in worry by assessing whether the experimental manipulation of fear of anxiety affects worry level. The study also assessed the combined effects of fear of anxious responding and intolerance of uncertainty (a factor already linked to pathological worry) on level of worry by grouping participants according to their tolerance for uncertainty. The results indicated that participants whose fear of anxiety was increased showed higher levels of worry compared to participants whose fear of anxiety was decreased. This finding provides preliminary support for the causal role of fear of anxiety in worry. Moreover, the results showed that increased fear of anxiety in combination with an intolerance for uncertainty led to the highest levels of worry, which suggests that these constructs have an additive effect on worry. The findings lend support to the integration of new conceptualizations of psychopathology with existing models of excessive worry, which could ultimately increase treatment efficacy for GAD.     

Changes in Emotions Over the Course of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and the Moderating Role of Depression,Anxiety, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Evidence-based borderline personality disorder (BPD) treatments such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) emphasize the acquisition and use of strategies to down regulate negative emotion. However, little research examines whether specific emotions change during DBT. Further, it is unclear if BPD-relevant comorbidities that involve heightened emotion—namely, depression, anxiety disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—moderate these outcomes. This study investigated which specific emotions (hostility/anger, fear, shame/guilt, and sadness) decrease during DBT, and whether comorbid depression, anxiety disorders, and PTSD moderate these outcomes. Individuals with BPD (N = 101) completed 6 months of standard DBT and provided measurements of specific emotions at every session and at pre-, mid-, and posttreatment. Generalized estimating equations revealed moderate effect-sized reductions in anger at major assessment time points. Anxiety disorders and PTSD moderated the effect of time on fear, shame, and guilt. PTSD also moderated the effect of time on sadness. For all moderating effects, individuals with the comorbidity exhibited greater reductions than those without. These findings corroborate that DBT reduces several specific emotions, and comorbid PTSD and anxiety disorders may facilitate this effect for fear, shame/guilt, and sadness (clinical trial registration number = NCT03123198).     

负面评价恐惧对社交焦虑的影响:基于社交焦虑的认知行为模型

在社交焦虑认知行为模型的理论视角下，本研究拟探讨负面评价恐惧、不确定性容忍度和依赖型自我构念对社交焦虑的影响及其作用机制。以424名大学生为被试，使用问卷调查法的研究结果表明：（1）负面评价恐惧对社交焦虑有显著预测作用，且不确定性容忍度在这一关系中的中介作用显著；（2）不确定性容忍度的间接效应受到依赖型自我构念的调节。具体而言，该中介效应在高依赖型自我构念群体中更为显著。本研究结果不仅有助于揭示负面评价恐惧对社交焦虑的影响及其作用机制，而且对社交焦虑的预防和干预也有一定的理论和实践指导价值。     

A Methodological Examination of Emotion Inductions in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Comparison of Standardized Versus Idiographic Stimuli

Emotional reactivity is conceptualized as a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and has been subject to substantial empirical research. The laboratory methods used to elicit emotional reactivity in BPD have varied and findings across studies have been mixed. At present, there is little research evaluating the relative efficacy of different methods in eliciting emotional reactivity in BPD. Thus, the current study examined differences in emotional reactivity among individuals with BPD in response to standardized and idiographic stimuli, and across three specific emotions (sadness, fear, and anger). Individuals with BPD, social anxiety disorder, and healthy controls viewed film clips (i.e., standardized stimuli) or engaged in a personally-relevant imagery task (i.e., idiographic stimuli) while self-reported and physiological indices (skin conductance response and respiratory sinus arrhythmia) of emotion were collected. Results indicated that BPD participants displayed greater reactivity of sadness and anger (but not fear) in response to the idiographic versus standardized stimuli, a pattern that was not exhibited by the other two groups. These findings might explain some of the mixed evidence to date and suggest that idiographic sadness and fear inductions may be more effective for individuals with BPD.