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.

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The aim of the present investigation was to extend previous work on anxiety sensitivity (AS) and early smoking relapse among a sample of 130 (74 females) young adult (M (age) = 22.5 years, SD = 2.1) daily low-level smokers (9.3 cigarettes/day, SD = 11.5) from Mexico City, Mexico. Results indicated that of the global-level and lower-order factors (i.e., physical, mental incapacitation, and social concerns) on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, only the physical concerns factor was significantly related to early lifetime smoking relapse. This effect was observed above and beyond the effects of negative affectivity, cigarettes smoked per day, and alcohol consumption, as well as beyond the other AS mental and social concerns factors. Findings provide novel evidence that AS is an important explanatory construct in early smoking relapse.

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