Anxiety sensitivity in relation to cigarette smoking and other substance use in African American smokers.

Abstract

Anxiety sensitivity (AS)—fearfulness of anxiety symptoms—has been implicated in the etiology of emotional disorders (e.g., depressive and anxiety disorders) and linked to cigarette smoking and other substance use (SU). However, studies examining AS in relation to SU primarily have been conducted with racially/ethnically heterogeneous or mostly European American samples. Hence, this cross-sectional study involving secondary analysis of baseline data focused on investigating associations of AS with cigarette smoking and other SU in a sample of 630 non-treatment-seeking African American smokers (37.3% female; M age = 49.6 years; M cigarettes smoked per day = 15.4). After screening out individuals with non-nicotine substance dependence, participants reported their demographics, AS, dysphoria symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety symptoms), and SU. In regression analyses controlling for dysphoria symptoms, age, education level, income level, and years of regular smoking, AS was positively associated with tobacco withdrawal severity (β = .12, p = .007), overall smoking motives (β = .17, p < .001), alcohol use problems (β = .12, p = .005), and other (non-nicotine, nonalcohol) SU problems (β = .16, p < .001). Though lacking the passage of time between assessments needed to provide strong evidence of mediation, unplanned analyses further revealed indirect associations of AS with several SU variables through dysphoria symptoms. Current findings are consistent with those found in prior samples and suggest that AS is similarly related to SU in African Americans, who may benefit from interventions that have been helpful in improving AS, dysphoria symptoms, and SU in other groups.

Longitudinal associations between anxiety sensitivity and substance use in adolescents: Mediation by depressive affect.

“…Future research may benefit from the additional use of parent reports, which could provide corroborating or incremental information (Fraser et al, 2018). Fourth, the present study examined recent substance use with mediation analyses but (due to the time intervals and measures employed) was unable to do so in relation to substance use problems, which may be more relevant to the effects of AS and associated internalizing symptoms (Paulus et al, 2021), especially in later adolescence and adulthood (Kelly et al, 2020). However, we conducted supplemental regression analyses in which we longitudinally associated AS (particularly AS cognitive and social concerns) with greater alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use problems.…”

“…Fluharty et al, 2017; Schleider et al, 2019), the wider range of longitudinal associations between AS cognitive concerns and substance use in the present study may be related in part to the cognitive concerns aspect of AS (vs. other aspects of AS) having been most closely associated with depression (Brown et al, 2014; Naragon-Gainey, 2010; Olthuis et al, 2014). Furthermore, prior work has evidenced that the AS cognitive concerns tend to be more strongly correlated with the dysphoric (or negative affective) aspect of depression (Naragon-Gainey, 2010), and some prior research has further suggested that AS, dysphoria/depression, and substance use risk are linked in part by a ruminative style of thinking (Cox et al, 2001; Kelly et al, 2020), which may feed into a negative reinforcement cycle in which cognitive dysregulation heightens NA and thereby increases the likelihood of using substances in an attempt to alleviate NA (Wolitzky-Taylor et al, 2021).…”

Anhedonia in tobacco withdrawal among African-American smokers.

“…Data were drawn from the Southern California Tobacco Addiction Phenotype Project (SC-TAPP), a laboratory study of individual differences in the expression of tobacco withdrawal among AA smokers in the Los Angeles, CA, USA Metropolitan Region conducted from August 2013 to May 2017 ( N = 607; Bello et al, 2017; Kelly et al, 2020; Liautaud et al, 2018). Non-treatment-seeking daily cigarette smokers were recruited via advertisements announcing opportunities to participate in research on the causes of smoking.…”