Effortful control moderates relationships between worry and symptoms of depression and anxious arousal

Abstract

Objectives Findings are inconsistent regarding the relationship between worry and anxious arousal (AA). Effortful control (EC) capacity may explain these inconsistent findings, such that only high worriers with higher EC are able to suppress autonomic arousal through worrying. The current study investigated these main and interactive effects of worry and EC on AA as well as depression. Methods Participants (N = 1210, 779 females) were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk website and completed self‐report measures assessing worry, EC, AA, depression, and negative affect intensity. Results Regression models revealed that EC moderated the relationship between worry and AA, with individuals lower in EC demonstrating a stronger positive relationship between worry and AA. EC also moderated the relationship between worry and depression, with individuals lower in EC demonstrating a stronger positive relationship between worry and depression. Results remained the same when controlling for age, gender, and negative affect intensity. Conclusions Results support the idea that low EC may help to explain a range of comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Practitioner points Individuals low in effortful control demonstrate a stronger association between worry and anxious arousal, as well as between worry and depression Those low in effortful control may be especially vulnerable to comorbid worry and depression High worriers who are high in effortful control may be motivated to continue worrying due to their ability to reduce anxious arousal during worry