Anxiety Sensitivity and Cognitive-Based Smoking Processes: Testing the Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation Among Treatment-Seeking Daily Smokers (original) (raw)
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Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2008
The present investigation evaluated the relations between anxiety sensitivity and motivational bases of cigarette smoking, as well as barriers to quitting smoking, above and beyond concurrent substance use, negative affectivity, and emotional dysregulation among a community sample of 189 daily cigarette smokers (46% women; M age = 24.97 years, SD = 9.78). Results indicated that anxiety sensitivity was significantly related to coping, addictive, and habitual smoking motives, as well as greater perceived barriers to quitting. These effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by concurrent tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use and discernable from shared variance with negative affectivity and emotional dysregulation. Emotional dysregulation was significantly related to stimulation, habitual, and sensorimotor smoking motives and greater perceived barriers to quitting, whereas negative affectivity was only significantly related to smoking for relaxation. These findings uniquely add to a growing literature suggesting anxiety sensitivity is an important and unique cognitive factor for better understanding clinically-relevant psychological processes related to cigarette smoking.
Anxiety Sensitivity and Smoking Variability Among Treatment Seeking Smokers
Addictive Disorders & Their Treatment, 2016
Objectives-Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is associated with poor smoking cessation outcomes. One reason may be that smokers with high AS smoke differently (i.e., to manage negative affect and uncomfortable bodily sensations) than other smokers, leading to stronger addiction (due to an affect/sensation based and thereby highly variable rather than a regular smoking routine). Thus, we examined the relationship between AS and smoking variability in a group of treatment-seeking smokers. Methods-Participants (N = 136; 52.2% female; M age = 44.19 years, SD = 11.29) were daily smokers with elevated AS (AS≥20 on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index 16-item at prescreen) recruited as part of a larger randomized controlled trial for smoking cessation. Most participants were Caucasian (73%), educated (with 76% attending some college), unmarried (73%), and employed full-time (56%). They smoked, on average, 17 cigarettes per day.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2012
The current study investigated the main and interactive effects of emotion dysregulation and distress tolerance in relation to panic-relevant variables among daily smokers. The sample consisted of 172 adults (61.2% male; M age = 31.58, SD = 11.51), who reported smoking an average of 15.99 cigarettes per day (SD = 10.00). Results indicated that both emotion dysregulation and distress tolerance were significantly related to interoceptive fear and agoraphobia. Additionally, emotion dysregulation, but not distress tolerance, was significantly related to anxiety sensitivity. All effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by average cigarettes per day, tobacco-related physical illness, and panic attack history. The interaction between emotion dysregulation and distress tolerance significantly predicted interoceptive and agoraphobic fears as well as the cognitive component of anxiety sensitivity. Such findings underscore the importance of emotion dysregulation and distress tolerance in regard to panic-specific fear and expectancies about anxiety-related sensations among daily smokers.
Journal of addiction medicine, 2018
Elevated levels of anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of anxiety and internal sensations) is highly common among adults who smoke, and contributes to several maladaptive smoking beliefs and behaviors. AS is comprised of 3 empirically established factors, relating to fears of social concerns, fears of physical symptoms, and fears of cognitive dyscontrol. Relatively few studies have examined how these 3 subscales pertain to smoking processes. The aim of the present investigation was to examine, among treatment-seeking adults who smoke, the interactive effects of AS-physical and cognitive concerns in relation to: perceived barriers to smoking cessation; smoking-related negative reinforcement expectancies; and smoking-related avoidance and inflexibility. Participants included 470 adults who smoke (47.8% female; mean age 37.2, SD 13.5), who were recruited to participate in a smoking-cessation treatment study. At the baseline assessment, participants completed self-report measures, including t...
anxiety sensitivity as a Predictor of acute subjective effects of smoking
abstract introduction: Anxiety sensitivity (i.e., AS; the degree to which one believes that anxiety and its related sensations are harmful) is a stable trait that is associated with habitual smoking. Yet, the mechanisms linking AS and smoking are unclear. A promising hypothesis is that high-AS individuals are more sensitive to the acute subjective reinforcing effects of smoking and are, therefore, more prone to tobacco dependence. This study examined trait AS as a predictor of several subjective effects of cigarette smoking.
Journal of anxiety disorders, 2016
Disproportionately more smokers report low-income and mental health problems relative to non-smokers. Low-income smokers may use smoking to alleviate negative emotional states resulting from exposure to multiple stressors. Yet, little work has been devoted to elucidating mechanisms that may explain the association between negative emotional states and smoking-related processes among low-income smokers. The present study sought to address this gap by examining anxiety sensitivity, a transdiagnostic factor related to both anxiety and smoking, as a potential mediator for the influence of anxiety symptoms on smoking-related processes, including threat-related smoking abstinence expectancies (somatic symptoms and harmful consequences), perceived barriers for cessation, and problems experienced during past quit attempts. Participants included treatment-seeking daily cigarette smokers (n=101; 68.3% male; Mage=47.1; SD=10.2). Results indicated that anxiety symptoms exerted a significant ind...
The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in the Relation Between Trait Worry and Smoking Behavior
Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2014
Introduction: Smoking and anxiety disorders frequently co-occur. Trait worry is a core symptom of anxiety disorders. While research suggests worry processes may be important to certain smoking behaviors, the mechanisms explicating these relations remain unknown. Method: The current study examined anxiety sensitivity (AS) as a potential mediator for the relation between trait worry and number of years being a daily smoker, latency to first cigarette of the day, smoking rate, heaviness of smoking, and nicotine dependence among treatment-seeking daily smokers (N = 376; 47% female; M age = 37.76, SD = 13.46). Results: Consistent with prediction, AS significantly mediated the relations between trait worry and the studied smoking variables. Conclusion: The present findings suggest it may be useful to clinically address AS among worryprone, treatment-seeking daily smokers in order to address smoking behavior.
Smoking, arousal, and affect: The role of anxiety sensitivity
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2010
Despite evidence that smoking elevates peripheral autonomic nervous system activity, cigarette smokers commonly report smoking to reduce negative affect, or ''calm down.'' Studies suggest that anxiety sensitivity is positively associated with the use of anxiolytic substances, but anxiety sensitivity is also characterized by aversive responding to elevations in physiological arousal. As such, anxiety sensitivity may be an important factor in the study of smoking, affect, and arousal. Method: Smokers smoked cigarettes in two experimental sessions: a Stressful Speech Condition and a No Stress Condition. Psychophysiological and self-report served as within-subjects, repeated measures. Results: Findings revealed that smoking reduced anxiety in high anxiety sensitive smokers who smoked during a stressful situation, but not a no stress situation. Low anxiety sensitive smokers endorsed anxiolysis in both conditions. Conclusions: Results suggest that high anxiety sensitive smokers may be sensitive to the physiologically arousing effects of smoking in low stress, low arousal, situations.