Accumulating evidence suggests that anxiety sensitivity (fear of arousal-related sensations) plays an important role in many clinical conditions, particularly anxiety disorders. Research has increasingly focused on how the basic dimensions of anxiety sensitivity are related to various forms of psychopathology. Such work has been hampered because the original measure--the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI)--was not designed to be multidimensional. Subsequently developed multidimensional measures have unstable factor structures or measure only a subset of the most widely replicated factors. Therefore, the authors developed, via factor analysis of responses from U.S. and Canadian nonclinical participants (n=2,361), an 18-item measure, the ASI-3, which assesses the 3 factors best replicated in previous research: Physical, Cognitive, and Social Concerns. Factorial validity of the ASI-3 was supported by confirmatory factor analyses of 6 replication samples, including nonclinical samples from the United States and Canada, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Spain (n=4,494) and a clinical sample from the United States and Canada (n=390). The ASI-3 displayed generally good performance on other indices of reliability and validity, along with evidence of improved psychometric properties over the original ASI.

The present study describes the development of a short, general measure of experiential avoidance, based on a specific theoretical approach to this process. A theoretically driven iterative exploratory analysis using structural equation modeling on data from a clinical sample yielded a single factor comprising 9 items. A fully confirmatory factor analysis upheld this same 9-item factor in an independent clinical sample. The operational characteristics of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ) were then examined in 8 additional samples. All totaled, over 2,400

In the present paper, we review theory and empirical study of distress tolerance, an emerging risk factor candidate for various forms of psychopathology. Despite the long-standing interest in, and promise of work on, distress tolerance for understanding adult psychopathology, there has not been a comprehensive review of the extant empirical literature focused on the construct. As a result, a comprehensive synthesis of theoretical and empirical scholarship on distress tolerance including integration of extant research on the relations between distress tolerance and psychopathology is lacking. Inspection of the scientific literature indicates that there are a number of promising ways to conceptualize and measure distress tolerance, as well as documented relations between distress tolerance factor(s) and psychopathological symptoms and disorders. Although promising, there also is notable conceptual and operational heterogeneity across the distress tolerance literature(s). Moreoever, a number of basic questions remain unanswered regarding the associations between distress tolerance and other risk and protective factors and processes, as well as its putative role(s) in vulnerability for, and resilience to, psychopathology. Thus, the current paper provides a comprehensive review of past and contemporary theory and research and proposes key areas for future empirical study of this construct.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) convened a meeting in September 2005 to review tobacco use and dependence and smoking cessation among those with mental disorders, especially individuals with anxiety disorders, depression, or schizophrenia. Smoking rates are exceptionally high among these individuals and contribute to the high rates of medical morbidity and mortality in these individuals. Numerous biological, psychological, and social factors may explain these high smoking rates, including the lack of smoking cessation treatment in mental health settings. Historically, "self-medication" and "individual rights" have been concerns used to rationalize allowing ongoing tobacco use and limited smoking cessation efforts in many mental health treatment settings. Although research has shown that tobacco use can reduce or ameliorate certain psychiatric symptoms, overreliance on the self-medication hypothesis to explain the high rates of tobacco use in psychiatric populations may result in inadequate attention to other potential explanations for this addictive behavior among those with mental disorders. A more complete understanding of nicotine and tobacco use in psychiatric patients also can lead to new psychiatric treatments and a better understanding of mental illness. Greater collaboration between mental health researchers and nicotine and tobacco researchers is needed to better understand and develop new treatments for cooccurring nicotine dependence and mental illness. Despite an accumulating literature for some specific psychiatric disorders and tobacco use and cessation, many unstudied research questions remain and are a focus and an emphasis of this review.

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) was administered to a sample of 26 high school‐aged adolescents to test the utility of the BART as a behavioural measure of risk‐taking propensity. Data indicate that riskyness on the BART was related to self‐reported engagement in real‐world risk‐taking behaviours. These data replicate and uniquely extend past research to an adolescent sample, suggesting that the BART may be a useful addition to self‐report batteries for the assessment of risk‐taking behaviours in adolescents.