Differential effects of anxiety sensitivity components in the relation between emotional non-acceptance and post-traumatic stress symptoms among trauma-exposed treatment-seeking smokers.

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101143317 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1651-2316 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 16506073 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Cogn Behav Ther Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK ; Philadelphia, PA : Taylor & Francis, c2002-

Cognition* ; Emotions*; Anxiety/*psychology ; Smoking/*psychology ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/*diagnosis ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/*psychology; Adult ; Alcohol-Related Disorders/complications ; Alcohol-Related Disorders/psychology ; Anxiety/complications ; Denial, Psychological ; Female ; Humans ; Interview, Psychological ; Male ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/complications ; Young Adult

Anxiety sensitivity (AS), defined as the extent to which individuals believe anxiety and anxiety-related sensations have harmful consequences, may play an important explanatory role in the relation between emotional non-acceptance and the expression of traumatic stress symptoms among trauma-exposed smokers. This investigation examined whether lower-order dimensions of AS (cognitive, physical, and social concerns) differentially explain the relation between emotional non-acceptance and post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptom clusters (re-experiencing, avoidance, hyperarousal) among trauma-exposed daily smokers (N = 169, 46% female; Mage = 41, SD = 12.3). AS and its lower-order facets of cognitive and social concerns were found to mediate the relations between emotional non-acceptance and avoidance and hyperarousal PTS symptoms. Using a multiple mediation model, the mediational effect of AS cognitive concerns for the relation between emotional non-acceptance and post-traumatic avoidance symptoms was found to be uniquely evident relative to social and physical concerns. All observed AS effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by gender, number of traumatic event exposure types, negative affectivity, number of cigarettes smoked per day, and alcohol use problems. The present findings suggest cognitive-based AS concerns may play a mechanistic role in the relation between emotional non-acceptance and certain PTS symptoms among trauma-exposed daily smokers.

Keywords: PTS symptoms; anxiety sensitivity; emotional non-acceptance; mediation; psychopathology; smoking; tobacco

Date Created: 20150203 Date Completed: 20151123 Latest Revision: 20191210

20231215

10.1080/16506073.2015.1004191

25642748