The Relationship Between Anxiety Sensitivity and PTSD Symptom Severity Among Trauma-Exposed Inpatient Adolescents

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dc.contributorViana, Andres G.
dc.contributorZvolensky, Michael J.
dc.contributorSirrieh, Rita
dc.contributor.authorAmarneh, Dania
dc.date.accessioned2021-09-13T18:04:00Z
dc.date.available2021-09-13T18:04:00Z
dc.date.issued2021-05
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: The present study examined the role of anxiety sensitivity in adolescent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, above and beyond the effects of three well-established correlates for PTSD symptomatology in this population, specifically: anxiety, depression, and emotion dysregulation. The facets of anxiety sensitivity (i.e., disease concerns, unsteady concerns, mental incapacitation concerns, and social concerns) as contributors to PTSD symptom severity were also assessed. It was hypothesized that anxiety sensitivity would significantly explain variance in PTSD symptom severity above and beyond the effects of anxiety, depression, and emotion dysregulation. The disease concerns, mental incapacitation concerns, and unsteady concerns facets were expected to be the strongest predictors in this model. Methods: Adolescents recruited from a psychiatric inpatient hospital with a history of exposure to a potentially traumatic event (N = 50; 52% female; Mage = 15.06 years, SD = 1.41, range = 12 - 17; 44.0% White) completed a battery of self-report measures assessing anxiety and depressive symptoms, emotion dysregulation, anxiety sensitivity, and PTSD symptom severity. Results: The total anxiety sensitivity score did not account for a statistically significant amount of variance in PTSD symptoms above and beyond the effects of anxiety, depression, and emotion dysregulation. However, the facets of anxiety sensitivity had a statistically significant effect and accounted for an additional 10.8% of unique variance in PTSD symptoms (p = .015); the mental incapacitation concerns subscale was the only facet that emerged as a significant predictor of PTSD symptoms (b = 3.71, 95% CI [1.66, 5.77], sr2 = .10). Conclusion: The mental incapacitation concerns facet of anxiety sensitivity predicted PTSD symptom severity above and beyond other well-established risk factors among a sample of trauma-exposed psychiatric youth. These findings suggest that adolescent psychiatric inpatients may benefit from treatments targeting this cognitive risk factor.
dc.description.departmentPsychology, Department of
dc.description.departmentHonors College
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/8218
dc.language.isoen
dc.relation.ispartofSenior Honors Theses
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectPosttraumatic stress
dc.subjectCognitive models
dc.subjectAdolescents
dc.subjectAnxiety sensitivity
dc.titleThe Relationship Between Anxiety Sensitivity and PTSD Symptom Severity Among Trauma-Exposed Inpatient Adolescents
dc.typeHonors Thesis
dc.type.dcmiText
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
thesis.degree.levelBachelors
thesis.degree.nameBachelor of Arts

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