The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in Eating Pathology

Abstract

Background In past research, anxiety sensitivity (AS) has been identified as a risk factor for anxiety, mood, and alcohol problems. Little work, however, has examined the relationship between AS and eating pathology. We predicted that individuals high in AS would have elevated rates of eating disorder symptoms as measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). Methods Participants in two studies-one undergraduate sample (N = 88) and one clinical sample (N = 96)-were assessed for anxiety sensitivity and eating disorder symptoms. Results In both samples, AS was significantly related to EDI-Bulimia scores, controlling for depressive symptoms, trait anxiety symptoms, and impulsivity. In the clinical sample, AS was also significantly related to EDI-Drive for Thinness, controlling for the same covariates. A follow-up analysis suggested that the relationship between AS and EDI eating disorder symptoms was mediated by EDI-Interoceptive Awareness. Limitations Both studies were cross-sectional, which prohibits causal interpretations. The follow-up mediational analysis must be interpreted with caution due to overlap between the measures of AS and interoceptive awareness. Because of a small sample size and significant comorbidity, the exploratory results analyzing diagnostic categories in Study 2 must be interpreted with caution. Conclusions AS has a statistically significant relationship to certain eating disorder symptoms measured by the EDI. Future research should investigate whether high AS individuals utilize certain eating behaviors in an effort to regulate somatic symptoms of anxiety.

Reactivity to 35% carbon dioxide in bulimia nervosa and panic disorder

“…Along those lines, previous studies have examined potential cognitive correlates of CO 2 -hyperreactivity, such as high levels of anxiety sensitivity (AS; Reiss and McNally, 1985) and low levels of distress tolerance (DT; Simons and Gaher, 2005), given their associations with panic and anxiety psychopathology (e.g., Eifert et al, 1999;Keough et al, 2010;Kutz et al, 2010;Leyro et al, 2010;Perna et al, 2003). These constructs are also associated with BN (Anestis et al, 2007(Anestis et al, , 2008 and thus may help to explain the shared reactivity between BN and PD in this study. Additional factors that relate to both BN and PD have been shown to enhance reactivity in studies using different CO 2 percentages.…”

The multifaceted role of distress tolerance in dysregulated eating behaviors

“…Discriminant validity for Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa diagnoses has been reported. 14 The a coefficient for the EDI-Bulimia scale was .82.…”

Dysregulated Eating and Distress: Examining the Specific Role of Negative Urgency in a Clinical Sample

“…For instance, prior work has indicated the general construct of impulsivity is predictive of bingeing and purging (Sullivan et al 1998;Fahy and Eisler 1993). Additionally, prior studies have implicated anxiety sensitivity (Anestis et al 2008) and other mood related variables (Arnow et al 1995;Wegner et al 2002). In an effort to emphasize the incremental validity of negative urgency as an important variable in dysregulated eating behaviors, we thus decided that it was pivotal to include a wide variety of psychological and demographic controls.…”