Examining the Hierarchical Influences of the Big-Five Dimensions and Anxiety Sensitivity on Anxiety Symptoms in Children

Abstract

Anxiety sensitivity (AS), namely the fear of anxiety symptoms, has been described as a precursor of sub-threshold anxiety levels. Sexton et al. (2003) posited that increased AS would arise from an elevated neuroticism and that both would act as vulnerability factors for panic disorder (PD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms. Accordingly, this study aimed to (1) evaluate the applicability of this model to a pediatric population and (2) examine the influences of the other Big-Five personality dimensions on the four lower-order dimensions of AS (cognitive, physical, control, and physical) and on social phobia (SP), separation anxiety disorder (SAD) and depression symptoms. 200 children (104 girls) aged between 8 and 12 years old (mean age = 132.52 months, SD = 14.5) completed the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index ( Silverman et al., 1991 ), the Big Five Questionnaire for Children ( Barbaranelli et al., 2003 ), and the Revised’s Children Anxiety and Depression Scale ( Chorpita et al., 2000 ). Regression analyses confirmed that AS and neuroticism together significantly predicted the presence of PD, OCD, and GAD symptoms but also SP, SAD, and depression symptoms. Moreover, neuroticism interacted with extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness to significantly predict SP, GAD, and depression. Surprisingly, the global AS score was only predicted by agreeableness, while AS dimensions also specifically related to openness. Finally, AS dimensions did not predict the presence of specific anxiety symptoms. To conclude, the predicting model of anxiety symptoms in children sets neuroticism and AS on the same level, with an unexpected influence of agreeableness on AS, raising the importance of other trait-like factors in the definition of such models. Moreover, AS should be considered as a unitary construct when predicting the presence of anxiety symptoms in children. Future interventions must consider these associations to help children detect and recognize the symptoms of their anxiety and help them to interpret them correctly.

Engineering Virtuous health habits using Emotion and Neurocognition: Flexibility for Lifestyle Optimization and Weight management (EVEN FLOW)

“…Recent work suggests that is likely personality and health outcomes is linked through 'assimilative' processes, with personality factors tending to predict behavioral response pattens and the likelihood of influence by situational facilitators/barriers (McCrae and Sutin, 2018). For example, individuals who are more neurotic and less open to experience exhibit higher levels of anxiety sensitivity (Wauthia et al, 2019) and experiential avoidance (Mohammadkhani et al, 2016), which may lead them to engage in avoidant behavioral patterns (Sirois, 2015;.…”

“…Similarly, several canonical personality factors have a high degree of heritability, including trait levels of neuroticism and openness (Jang et al, 1996). Although the degree of heritability for personality traits is somewhat lower than that observed for executive functioning, this may partly obscure the degree to which core temperamental elements of personality development, such as anxiety sensitivity, may play (Wauthia et al, 2019). In both cases, evidence increasingly suggests a vulnerability model of genetic transmission, in which predisposing vulnerabilities in cognitive and psychological phenotypic markers confer risk of developing an array of subsequent clinical disorders and with adaptive functioning more broadly (Bagby et al, 2008;Mertens et al, 2022).…”

Multimodal analysis of personality traits on videos of self-presentation and induced behavior

“…Personality traits seem to have a role in the development of anxiety disorders. Recent studies have found that a high level of Neuroticism predicts social phobia, panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder [82]. Higher Neuroticism and lower Conscientiousness levels are related to an increase in anxiety and lower Extraversion is associated with social phobia [52].…”

The efficacy of transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural therapy on reducing negative affect, anxiety sensitivity and improving perceived control in children with emotional disorders - a randomized controlled trial

“…It was also observed that AS, even after controlling the effect of NA, is a significant predictor of developing one of the anxiety disorders (Schmidt, Mitchell, & Richey, 2008 ). Further, the evidence also supported the role of AS in the development of emotional disorders in children (Brown, Meiser-Stedman, Woods, & Lester, 2016 ; Hernandez Rodriguez, 2015 ; Ho, Dai, Mak, & Liu, 2018 ; Knapp, Blumenthal, Mischel, Badour, & Leen-Feldner, 2016 ; Raines et al ., 2020 ; Viana et al ., 2018 ; Wauthia et al ., 2019 ).…”