Studies have shown that anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a risk factor in the development of pathological anxiety. Recent theoretical models emphasize the additional importance of how people handle their anxious experiences. The present study examined whether high AS and being fixated on the control and regulation of unwanted anxious feelings or being unable to properly modulate affect as needed lead to particularly problematic outcomes. We examined the interactive influence of AS and affect regulatory strategies on the frequency and intensity of anxiety symptoms. Questionnaires were completed by 248 young adults in the community. Results showed a general pattern with anxiety symptoms being the most severe when high AS was paired with affect regulatory difficulties. Of participants high in AS, anxious arousal and worry were heightened in the presence of less acceptance of emotional distress; anxious arousal, worry, and agoraphobic cognitions were heightened when fewer resources were available to properly modulate affect; and agoraphobic cognitions were heightened in the presence of high emotion expressiveness. As evidence of construct specificity, an alternative model with anhedonic depressive symptoms as a main effect and interaction effect (with regulatory strategies) failed to predict anxiety symptoms. However, anxiety sensitivity and less acceptance of emotional distress were associated with greater anhedonia. Results are discussed in the context of how and when affect regulatory behavior shifts individuals from normative anxiety to pathology.Keywords anxiety sensitivity; emotion regulation; worry; acceptance; approach coping; self-regulation Researchers have made great strides in conceptualizing and measuring emotion vulnerabilities that contribute to the development of human suffering generally and anxiety psychopathology specifically. A vulnerability factor that has received a great deal of scholarly attention in contemporary work on anxiety and its disorders is anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety and its Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. McNally, 2002). Indeed, extant research suggests that anxiety sensitivity may be usefully conceptualized as a variable risk factor for anxiety problems (Taylor, 1999;Zvolensky, Schmidt, Bernstein, & Keough, 2006). This cognitive factor increases the risk for the subsequent development of anxiety symptoms, unexpected panic attacks, as well as anxiety psychopathology (e.g., panic disorder; Ehlers, 1995;Hayward, Killen, Kraemer, & Taylor, 2000;Maller & Reiss, 1992;Schmidt, Lerew, & Jackson, 1997, 1999Schmidt, Zvole...