These findings suggest the utility of assessing and targeting anxiety sensitivity in the treatment of acculturative stress-related depression/anxiety problems among Hispanic college students. (PsycINFO Database Record

No abstract

Although recent work has highlighted the relation of acculturative stress with depression and anxiety symptoms specifically among Latino/a university students, the potential mechanisms underlying these associations remain relatively unknown. The present study aims to examine difficulties in emotion regulation as an explanatory factor in the relation of acculturative stress with symptoms of depression, suicidality, social anxiety, and anxious arousal. A sample of 448 Latino/a college students (Mage = 20.67 years, SD = 1.96; 78.3% female) were recruited from a southwestern public university through an online, self-report survey. Indirect effects of acculturative stress via difficulties in emotion regulation on all outcomes were observed among males and females. Follow-up analyses showed the indirect effect on all dependent variables among Latino men occurred exclusively through lack of access to emotion regulation strategies, whereas the indirect effects among Latina women occurred through a different subfactor of difficulties in emotion regulation for each dependent variable. These findings suggest the potential clinical utility of assessing and targeting acculturative stress and difficulties in emotion regulation in the treatment of depression and anxiety problems among Latino/a college students. (PsycINFO Database Record

Anxiety sensitivity, defined as the fear of anxiety and arousal-related sensations, has been among the most influential cognitive-based transdiagnostic risk and maintenance factors in the study and treatment of emotional and related disorders. The currently available anxiety sensitivity measures are limited by their length. Specifically, the length of these instruments discourages the adoption of routine anxiety sensitivity assessment in clinical or medical settings (e.g., primary care). The goals of this study were to develop and assess the validity and reliability of a short version of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3; Taylor et al., 2007), entitled the Short Scale Anxiety Sensitivity Index (SSASI), using three independent clinical samples. Results indicated that the abbreviated five-item version of the SSASI had good internal consistency and a robust association with the ASI-3. Further, across the samples, there was evidence of unidimensionality and excellent convergent and discriminant validity. There also was evidence of partial measurement invariance across sex and full measurement invariance across time. Overall, the five-item scale offers a single score that can be employed to measure anxiety sensitivity. Use of the SSASI may facilitate screening efforts and symptom tracking for anxiety sensitivity, particularly within clinical settings where practical demands necessitate the use of brief assessment instruments.

The present study examined the factor structure, invariance properties, reliability, and validity of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3, Taylor et al., 2007). Participants were recruited from a large, ethnically diverse southwestern university (n = 3651; 77.8% female; M = 22.06 years; 28% non-Hispanic White). Findings supported a bifactor structure for the ASI-3, which demonstrated measurement invariance across sex, race/ethnicity, age, and sexual minority status. Furthermore, the ASI-3 demonstrated strong reliability and validity, with the anxiety sensitivity general and specific factors (physical, cognitive, and social concerns) evidencing unique patterns of relations with symptoms of depression, suicidality, anxious arousal, and social anxiety. Clinically, these findings generally support the validity of the ASI-3 in measuring anxiety sensitivity across sex, age, race/ethnicity, and sexual minority status. Future work is needed to better understand the role anxiety sensitivity plays within specific demographic subgroups, particularly African-Americans, Asian Americans, and sexual minorities.