Anxiety Sensitivity Prospectively Predicts Increased Acute Posttraumatic Stress and Related Symptoms After Sexual Assault |
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| Authors: | Nicole A. Short Megan Lechner Kathy Bell Jenny Black Jennie Buchanan Jeffrey Ho Gordon Reed Amanda Corzine Ralph Riviello Sandra L. Martin Israel Liberzon Sheila Rauch Samuel A. McLean |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA;2. UC Health Memorial Hospital, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA;3. Tulsa Forensic Nursing, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA;4. Austin SAFE, Austin, Texas, USA;5. Denver Health, Denver, Colorado, USA;6. Hennepin Healthcare, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA;7. Christiana Care, Newark, Delaware, USA;8. Crisis Center for Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA;9. University of Texas Health–San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA;10. Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North-Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA;11. College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Texas A&M University, Bryan, Texas, USA;12. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
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| Abstract: | Anxiety sensitivity is a potential risk factor for posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and has been hypothesized to contribute to PTSS development. However, few prospective studies have evaluated whether anxiety sensitivity predicts PTSS. In a subsample of 48 women sexual assault survivors enrolled as part of a larger prospective observational study, elevated anxiety sensitivity measured via a brief assessment 1 week after experiencing a sexual assault was concurrently associated with PTSS at 1 week and prospectively predicted PTSS 6 weeks after the event, with small-to-medium effect sizes, η2p = .10, even after covarying for trauma history. Heightened anxiety sensitivity at 1-week postevent also interacted with time to predict anxiety and depression both before and after sexual assault, with medium-to-large effect sizes, ηp2 = .21– .24. This is consistent with research linking anxiety sensitivity to PTSS, but this was the first prospective study of which we are aware to demonstrate that anxiety sensitivity in the acute posttrauma period predicts PTSS among women who have recently experienced sexual assault. Future research should use the full Anxiety Sensitivity Index to replicate findings in a larger sample and explore whether targeting anxiety sensitivity could mitigate the development of PTSS in this vulnerable population. |
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