Core Dimensions of Personality Broadly Account for the Link from Perceived Social Support to Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety

Specific personality traits and poor social support are risk factors for anxiety and depression. Little work, however, has considered the effects of social support and personality on these aspects of psychopathology simultaneously. We examined whether perceived social support mediates the effects of core personality domains on symptoms of anxiety and depression. Measures of personality (based on the Five‐Factor Model [FFM]), perceived social support, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were collected in a large Dutch adult population‐based sample (n = 555), and, except for depression symptoms, in an independent U.S. adult population‐based sample (n = 511). Path modeling was used to test the effects of FFM traits on symptoms of depression and anxiety, with and without the mediation of perceived social support. Social support showed no link to symptoms of anxiety and only modest links to symptoms of depression when controlling for the FFM traits. Neuroticism had the strongest effect on symptoms of both depression and anxiety, with Extraversion also showing links to symptoms of depression. Social support has limited influence on symptoms of depression, and no effects on anxiety, over and above the effects of personality. Links between social support and anxiety/depression may largely reflect influences of Neuroticism and Extraversion.     

Expectations and Attributions in Social Anxiety Disorder: Diagnostic Distinctions and Relationship to General Anxiety and Depression

Contemporary cognitive models suggest that social anxiety disorder arises from a number of cognitive factors, including tendencies to form pessimistic (rather than optimistic) attributions and expectations for socially-related events. These models also assume that the strengths of such attributions and expectations are more closely linked with social anxiety than with general anxiety or depression. To test these assumptions, a battery of self-report measures was completed by participants with a primary diagnosis of generalized social anxiety disorder (n?=?75), panic disorder with agoraphobia (n?=?44), or post-traumatic stress disorder (n?=?59). To examine differences on these cognitive variables, group comparisons were performed controlling for general anxiety, depression and medication status. Social anxiety disorder, compared with panic disorder with agoraphobia and post-traumatic stress disorder, was characterized by lower expectations for positive social events and higher expectations for negative social events. There was no difference among the groups on expectations for non-social positive or negative events. Stable and global attributions for social negative events were more closely associated with social anxiety disorder than with panic disorder with agoraphobia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Correlational analyses also revealed specific relationships among social-cognitive measures and social anxiety, even after controlling for general anxiety and depression. The results are consistent with cognitive models of social anxiety disorder.     

Neuropsychological profiles of children with depressive and anxiety disorders

The neuropsychological functioning of 56 children and young adolescents with diagnoses of unipolar depression (n = 17), anxiety disorder (n = 19), or comorbid anxiety/depressive disorder (n = 20) was examined. The neuropsychological profiles of the three groups were parallel, but not equal in level of performance. The three groups displayed similar patterns of performance with profiles suggesting diminished attention abilities. The groups, however, were not equal in level of performance. While subjects with an anxiety or a depressive disorder were similar in level of performance, subjects with a comorbid anxiety/depressive disorder generally performed worse than those with either an anxiety or depressive disorder alone. There was no significant evidence of asymmetrical cerebral dysfunction in any of the diagnostic groups. Results are discussed in relation to adult models of psychopathology with an emphasis on the importance of considering developmental factors when formulating models of childhood psychopathology.     

Relation of anxiety to hostility in the course of inpatient treatment

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between anxiety and hostility in hospitalized psychiatric patients, with the passage of time. The used psychometric instruments were the state of anxiety subscale (sA) of the Delusions Symptoms States Inventory (DSSI) and the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ). The two questionnaires were administered during the first week of admission and completed again before the discharge of the patient. Two groups of patients emerged and were examined according to the sA scores reported on the second measurement. Group I (n = 44) consisted of patients reporting lower anxiety scores on the second measurement and Group II (n = 22) consisted of patients reporting higher anxiety scores on the second measurement. In Group I, the drop of anxiety scores was accompanied by parallel and highly significant drops of all hostility scores. In Group II, the increased anxiety scores were accompanied by non‐significant or marginally significant changes of hostility scores. The notion that hostility and anxiety are positively related was not fully supported. Also, the opposite thesis that there is a negative relationship between anxiety and hostility was not supported. The present study suggests that the levels of anxiety during the course of inpatient treatment are a factor influencing the temporal relationship between anxiety and hostility. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–6. 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Emotional variability and clarity in depression and social anxiety

Recent research has underscored the importance of elucidating specific patterns of emotion that characterise mental disorders. We examined two emotion traits, emotional variability and emotional clarity, in relation to both categorical (diagnostic interview) and dimensional (self-report) measures of major depressive disorder (MDD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) in women diagnosed with MDD only (n?=?35), SAD only (n?=?31), MDD and SAD (n?=?26) or no psychiatric disorder (n?=?38). Results of the categorical analyses suggest that elevated emotional variability and diminished emotional clarity are transdiagnostic of MDD and SAD. More specifically, emotional variability was elevated for MDD and SAD diagnoses compared to no diagnosis, showing an additive effect for co-occurring MDD and SAD. Similarly diminished levels of emotional clarity characterised all three clinical groups compared to the healthy control group. Dimensional findings suggest that although emotional variability is associated more consistently with depression than with social anxiety, emotional clarity is associated more consistently with social anxiety than with depression. Results are interpreted using a threshold and dose–response framework.     

The reward probability index: design and validation of a scale measuring access to environmental reward

Behavioral models of depression implicate decreased response-contingent positive reinforcement (RCPR) as critical toward the development and maintenance of depression (Lewinsohn, 1974). Given the absence of a psychometrically sound self-report measure of RCPR, the Reward Probability Index (RPI) was developed to measure access to environmental reward and to approximate actual RCPR. In Study 1 (n = 269), exploratory factor analysis supported a 20-item two-factor model (Reward Probability, Environmental Suppressors) with strong internal consistency (α = .90). In Study 2 (n = 281), confirmatory factor analysis supported this two-factor structure and convergent validity was established through strong correlations between the RPI and measures of activity, avoidance, reinforcement, and depression (r = .65 to .81). Discriminant validity was supported via smaller correlations between the RPI and measures of social support and somatic anxiety (r = – .29 to – .40). Two-week test–retest reliability was strong (r = .69). In Study 3 (n = 33), controlling for depression symptoms, hierarchical regression supported the incremental validity of the RPI in predicting daily diary reports of environmental reward. The RPI represents a parsimonious, reliable, and valid measure that may facilitate understanding of the etiology of depression and its relationship to overt behaviors.     

Enduring without avoiding: Pauses and verbal dysfluencies in public speaking fear

Direct measures of overt behavior have been underutilized in speech and other social fear, anxiety, and phobia research. This study demonstrates the usefulness of such variables in the evaluation of public speaking fear. A molecular behavioral assessment methodology was used to examine pauses and verbal dysfluencies of individuals with circumscribed speech fear (n=8) or general social anxiety (n=8), as well as nonanxious control participants (n=16), during an impromptu speech behavior test. Speech fear and generally social anxious individuals paused more often and for a longer duration than the nonanxious group. Results also indicated greater increases in state anxiety during the speech in the circumscribed speech fear sample, relative to the generalized social anxiety and control groups. Taken together with other research, these findings provide evidence that circumscribed speech fear is a meaningful subtype and can be independent of generalized social anxiety. The utility of measuring pausing and verbal dysfluencies in the behavioral assessment of speech fear and other social anxiety and phobia is discussed.     

On the Limitations of Using Situational Judgment Tests to Measure Interpersonal Skills: The Moderating Influence of Employee Anger

Many authors have suggested that situational judgment tests (SJTs) are useful tools for assessing applicants because SJT items can be written to assess a number of job‐related knowledges, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAOs). However, SJTs may not be appropriate for measuring certain KSAOs for some applicants. We posit that using SJTs to measure interpersonal skills may lead to invalid inferences about applicants with higher levels of angry hostility (AH), and thus, AH should moderate the relation between interpersonally oriented SJTs and job performance. Three studies, using samples of healthcare workers (n = 225), police officers (n = 54), and medical doctors (n = 92), provided support for hypotheses in that that relations between SJT scores and performance criteria were significantly weaker among employees higher in AH compared to those lower in AH. In addition, none of the other facets of neuroticism tested (self‐consciousness, anxiety, depression, immoderation, or vulnerability to stress) consistently moderated SJT validity, providing support for the uniqueness of AH. Implications for practice, and for future research studying the relations between interpersonal skills as measured by SJTs and job performance, are discussed.     

Efficacy of Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents in a Partial Hospitalization Program

This study evaluated dialectical behavior therapy for adolescents (DBT‐A) vs. treatment as usual within a 6‐week partial hospitalization program. The 103 adolescent participants (mean age = 15.27 years) were predominantly girls (n = 63, 61%) with a variety of primary mental health diagnoses. Results indicated that DBT‐A was superior for decreasing symptoms of depression and interpersonal sensitivity, but no statistically significant difference was detected for anxiety or hostility. Implications for treating youth with transdiagnostic identities are discussed.     

Irrational Beliefs and Emotionality in Adolescents with and without Bronchial Asthma

Asthmatic adolescents (N = 129) between the ages of 12 and 18 were assembled into three groups on the basis of severity of illness and were compared with each other and with a fourth group of 74 healthy, nonasthmatic adolescents. Differences in selective cognitive (irrational beliefs) and emotional (anxiety, depression, and hostility) characteristics were examined. Multivariate analysis indicated that irrational beliefs in the importance of approval and the lack of control of emotions, along with self-reported anxiety, depression, or hostility, were strongly associated with disease severity. Whereas adolescents with mild asthma closely resembled the physically healthy comparison group, adolescents with moderate and severe asthma exhibited a cognitive-emotional complex that can be described as maladaptive or dysfunctional. Implications of these results for the treatment of asthma are discussed.     

PTSD and Emotional Distress Symptoms Measured After a Motor Vehicle Accident: Relationships with Pain Coping Profiles

This study explored differences among pain patients classified as Dysfunctional, Interpersonally Distressed, and Adaptive Copers on the Multidimensional Pain Inventory with respect to PTSD symptomatology, anxiety, and depression. Eighty-five patients with pain complaints who had experienced a serious motor vehicle accident were classified into these three pain coping categories and assessed using clinician and self-report measures. Results indicated that patients classified as Adaptive Copers (n = 24) showed less PTSD symptomatology, anxiety, and depressed mood, relative to individuals classified as Dysfunctional (n = 36) and as Interpersonally Distressed (n = 25), who did not differ on these dimensions. Emotional responses during the accident (fear, helplessness, danger, perceived control, and certainty that one would die) did not differentiate the groups. Pain profiles contributed to the prediction of self-reported PTSD symptoms, controlling for state anxiety. These data suggest that pain patients with both Dysfunctional and Interpersonally Distressed coping profiles are at elevated risk for a range of posttrauma problems following a serious motor vehicle accident.     

Replication and Extension of a Hierarchical Model of Social Anxiety and Depression: Fear of Positive Evaluation as a Key Unique Factor in Social Anxiety

Wang, Hsu, Chiu, and Liang (2012, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 215–224) recently proposed a hierarchical model of social interaction anxiety and depression to account for both the commonalities and distinctions between these conditions. In the present paper, this model was extended to more broadly encompass the symptoms of social anxiety disorder, and replicated in a large unselected, undergraduate sample (n = 585). Structural equation modeling (SEM) and hierarchical regression analyses were employed. Negative affect and positive affect were conceptualized as general factors shared by social anxiety and depression; fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and disqualification of positive social outcomes were operationalized as specific factors, and fear of positive evaluation (FPE) was operationalized as a factor unique to social anxiety. This extended hierarchical model explicates structural relationships among these factors, in which the higher-level, general factors (i.e., high negative affect and low positive affect) represent vulnerability markers of both social anxiety and depression, and the lower-level factors (i.e., FNE, disqualification of positive social outcomes, and FPE) are the dimensions of specific cognitive features. Results from SEM and hierarchical regression analyses converged in support of the extended model. FPE is further supported as a key symptom that differentiates social anxiety from depression.     

Social anxiety and post-event processing among African-American individuals

Background: Social anxiety is among the most prevalent psychiatric conditions, yet little attention has been paid to whether putative cognitive vulnerability factors related to social anxiety in predominantly White samples are related to social anxiety among historically underrepresented groups.

Design: We tested whether one such vulnerability factor, post-event processing (PEP; detailed review of social event that can increase state social anxiety) was related to social anxiety among African-American (AA; n?=?127) persons, who comprise one of the largest underrepresented racial groups in the U.S. Secondarily, we tested whether AA participants differed from non-Hispanic White participants (n?=?127) on PEP and social anxiety and whether race moderated the relation between PEP and social anxiety.

Method: Data were collected online among undergraduates.

Results: PEP was positively correlated with social anxiety among AA participants, even after controlling for depression and income, pr?=?.30, p?=?.001. AA and White participants did not differ on social anxiety or PEP, β?=??1.57, 95% CI: ?5.11, 1.96. The relation of PEP to social anxiety did not vary as a function of race, β?=?0.00, 95% CI: ?0.02, 0.02.

Conclusions: PEP may be an important cognitive vulnerability factor related to social anxiety among AA persons suffering from social anxiety.     

Prenatal maternal representations: Mothers at psychosocial risk

The aim of the study was to explore differences in the content of prenatal mental representations between a risk group (n = 84) and a low‐risk group (n = 296) of pregnant women, enrolled from maternity care centers in southwestern Finland. The method used was semantic differentials of IRMAG (Interview of Maternal Representations During Pregnancy). The risk group was defined by means of questionnaire screens that concerned chemical dependency, depression, difficulties in social environment, and low social support. The ratings on all target subjects, i.e., child, self, partner, self‐as‐mother and own mother‐as‐mother, were significantly more negative in the risk group. The representation profiles of the groups differed: especially the ratings of partner and own mother‐as‐mother were more consistently and strongly negative among the risk mothers. © 2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Symptoms,blood-pressure information and mood effects on symptom recall

Abstract

After completion of an illness symptom checklist (PILL) covering the previous three months, 97 nor-motensives were allocated to either experimental (false pressor feedback, n=42), or information control (accurate pressor feedback, n = 55), groups. The median reported symptom score divided high from low symptom subjects. All were given standard cuff blood pressure (BP) assessment and were normotensive. However, experimental subjects were misinformed that their BP was raised while information control subjects were told their BP was normal. Subsequently, subjects completed the state anxiety form of the State-Trait Personality Inventory, the PILL, and were asked about their belief of the ascribed BP label (normo/hypertensive) and then any perceived causal relationship between their BP and symptoms. Experimental subjects had significantly higher anxiety scores but no change in symptom recall after pressor feedback, whereas control subjects showed lower anxiety scores and decreases in symptom recall.

A post hoc treatment control (no pressor information) group (n = 20) excluded effects of BP labeling on post-BP scores, and a post hoc symptom control group (n = 55) ensured that symptom levels were representative of the normal population. The majority of subjects in both groups rejected any association between BP labels and symptoms. Data are discussed in the light of Leventhal's models of illness representation.     

Self-Help for Social Anxiety: Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing a Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Approach With a Control Group

There are many barriers to the delivery of evidence-based treatment, including geographical location, cost, and stigma. Self-help may address some of these factors but there is a paucity of research on the efficacy of self-help for many problems, including social anxiety. The present research evaluated the efficacy of a mindfulness and acceptance-based self-help approach for the treatment of social anxiety. Individuals seeking help for social anxiety or shyness were recruited from the community. Participants (N = 117) were randomly assigned to a book (n = 58) or wait-list control condition (n = 59) on a 1:1 ratio. Hierarchical linear modelling results supported the efficacy of the self-help condition with between-group effect sizes on social anxiety outcomes ranging from .74 to .79. Significant change was also observed on self-compassion, mindfulness, acceptance, and depression. Some variables, including social anxiety and acceptance, were assessed weekly for those in the book condition. Additional participants (n = 35) were recruited for the book condition increasing the sample size to 93 for the latent change score modelling analyses. A unidirectional model was supported: increases in acceptance were associated with subsequent decreases in social anxiety. Overall these results support the use of a mindfulness and acceptance-based self-help approach for social anxiety.     

Coping mediates between social support,neuroticism, and depression after earthquake and examination stress among adolescents

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the mediating role of coping strategies in the relationships between neuroticism, social support, and depression in two groups of adolescents: earthquake group and examination group. Adolescents facing earthquake stress (earthquake group, N=219) completed measures of neuroticism, perceived social support, coping strategies, and self-rating depression. Similarly, adolescents facing examination stress (examination group, N=241) completed the same measures. Results indicated that the earthquake group reported more use of secondary control engagement coping, whereas the examination group reported more use of primary control engagement coping. In addition, neuroticism was more strongly associated with coping in earthquake group and coping strategies explained significantly larger part of the relationship between neuroticism and depression. In contrary, perceived social support was more strongly associated with coping in examination group, and coping strategies explained significantly larger part of the relationship between perceived social support and depression.     

Psychological and social consequences of HIV exposure: Homosexuals in southern california

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the psychological and social consequences experienced by apparently healthy homosexual men who learn that they have positive results on the HIV antibody test, but who have not yet developed AIDS or ARC. Employing a census survey of the male membership of three homophile organizations in a Southern California county (n=1905), 30 HIV positives and 55 negatives completed a biographical questionnaire, the IPAT Anxiety Scale Questionnaire, the IPAT Depression Scale, and the Coping Strategies Inventory. Results indicate that HIV positives show considerable disorganization after hearing test results, have clinically high levels of anxiety (n=10), and clinically high levels of depression (n=14) when compared to the normative samples. Positives also reported pervasive changes in their sexual activity (n=30), and experienced negative consequences in social (n=15) and occupational functioning (n=10). Twelve subjects reported suicidal ideation after they heard the results of their testing, with one subject reporting a suicide attempt. The methodological limitations of the study were examined, with an emphasis on the limitations of the survey method. Speculations to account for the reported behaviors were discussed.     

Illness representations,coping and psychological adjustment to Parkinson's disease

The present study reports an application of the common sense model (CSM) of illness representations to the prediction of psychological distress in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). The study sought to (i) examine cross-sectional and prospective associations between illness representations, coping and psychological distress, and (ii) test the hypothesis that coping would mediate any relationships between illness representations and psychological distress. Patients with PD (n = 58) completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised, the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Patients (n = 57) were followed-up at 6 months. Illness representations explained large amounts of variance in time 1 anxiety (R ² = 0.42) and depression (R ² = 0.44) as well as additional variance in time 2 anxiety (ΔR ² = 0.12) and depression (ΔR ² = 0.09) after controlling for baseline scores. In addition, avoidance mediated the effect of emotional representations on time 1 anxiety, and acceptance-resignation mediated the effects of both consequences and emotional representations on time 1 depression. The present study therefore provides partial support for the mediational model outlined in the CSM, as significant mediation effects were found only in the cross-sectional analyses.