Cognitive Vulnerabilities for Depression and Anxiety in Childhood: Specificity of Anxiety Sensitivity and Rumination

Abstract

Background: Childhood anxiety and depression frequently co-occur. Exploring specificity in cognitive processes for anxiety and depression in childhood can provide insight into cognitive vulnerabilities contributing to the development of anxiety and depressive disorders and inform targeted psychological interventions. Anxiety sensitivity and rumination are robust cognitive vulnerabilities for anxiety and depression, respectively. However, despite conceptual similarities, they are rarely considered together within a single study. Aims: The current study explored specific and shared associations between anxiety sensitivity subscales and rumination and anxiety and depressive symptoms in unselected children. Method: Multiple regression analyses explored to what extent specific self-reported anxiety sensitivity subscales (physical, social and mental concerns) and rumination predicted anxiety and depressive symptoms in 147 unselected children, aged 7–11 years. Results: Physical and social concern subscales of anxiety sensitivity were specifically associated with anxiety, whilst rumination was specifically associated with depressive symptoms. The mental concerns subscale of anxiety sensitivity was independently associated with both anxiety and depressive symptoms. These associations were only partially mediated by rumination. Conclusions: Anxiety and depression in young people are characterized by specific and shared cognitions. Evidence for shared and specific associations between the cognitive vulnerabilities of anxiety sensitivity and rumination, and anxiety and depression highlight the utility of transdiagnostic research and confirm that cognitive therapies may benefit from targeting cognitive concerns relating specifically to the patient's presenting symptoms.

Cognitive factors associated with depression and anxiety in adolescents: A two-year longitudinal study

“…Higher scores reflected higher levels of AS. Various factor structures of the CASI have been proposed, among which the model with three factors consisting of Physical concerns (PC, 12 items), Social concerns (SC, 3 items), and Mental concerns (MC, 3 items) is used most frequently ( Brown, Meiser-Stedman, Woods, & Lester, 2016 ). Using the software Amos (Version 23.0) ( Arbuckle, 2014 ), the 2016 data from this study were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine if the first-order CFA model consisting of the three above-mentioned factors could achieve a good fit for the present sample.…”

Transdiagnostic Evaluation Protocol for Stress, Anxiety and Depression: An Analysis with Colombian Victims

“…These results favor the development of transversal and independent assessment and intervention tools for comorbid pathologies and also premorbid conditions, although there is a need to expand the study to these conditions. Thus, depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms can be studied from the transdiagnostic variables of AS, IU, and PAN, as Talkovsky and Norton (2016) suggest that a person with high negative affect can in turn present high IU and AS, in addition to an increase in avoidance behaviors, such as complementary transdiagnostic variables that would facilitate the understanding of anxiety disorders and other pathologies (Carleton et al, 2012), a key aspect in the understanding and treatment of comorbid clinical symptoms based on the transdiagnostic model (Brown, Meiser-Stedman, Woods, & Lester, 2016).…”

Protocolo de Evaluación Transdiagnóstico para Estrés, Ansiedad y Depresión: Un Análisis con Víctimas Colombianas

“…Estos resultados favorecen el desarrollo de herramientas de evaluación e intervención transversales e independientes de las patologías comórbidas e incluso las condiciones premórbidas, aunque es necesario ampliar el estudio a estas condiciones. Es así que los síntomas depresivos, ansiosos y de estrés, pueden ser estudiados a partir de las variables transdiagnósticas SA, II y APN, tal como Talkovsky y Norton (2016), sugieren que una persona con elevado afecto negativo, puede presentar a su vez alta II y SA, además de un incremento en las conductas de evitación, como variables transdiagnósticas complementarias que facilitarían la comprensión de los trastornos ansiosos y otras patologías (Carleton et al, 2012), aspecto clave en la comprensión y tratamiento de los cuadros clínicos comórbidos basados en el modelo transdiagnóstico (Brown, Meiser-Stedman, Woods, & Lester, 2016).…”