The Indirect Effects of Trait Anxiety on Drug Use Via Emotion Dysregulation in a Low-Income Sample

Abstract

Background: Research has demonstrated consistent associations between anxiety and illicit drug use. However, few studies to date have examined the shared risk factors that may contribute to this common comorbidity. Therefore, the current investigation tested the indirect effect of trait anxiety on drug use disorder symptoms via emotion dysregulation, a widely recognized transdiagnostic risk factor found to be relevant across both anxiety and illicit drug use. Method: The sample was comprised of 241 adults (M_age = 50.56, SD_age = 5.90; 76.8% Black) recruited from a community center serving low-income and homeless individuals. Results: Consistent with our hypothesis, structural equation modeling demonstrated an indirect effect of trait anxiety on drug use disorder symptoms through emotion dysregulation. Conclusions: The current findings show initial support for emotion dysregulation as an explanatory vulnerability factor indirectly underlying the relationship between anxiety and drug use.

Keywords:

• Emotion dysregulation
• trait anxiety
• drug use
• low-income

Notes

1 A further model was examined that evaluated alcohol use disorder symptoms (as measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test; Saunders et al., 1993) as an additional outcome. The model fit the data well: χ² (90) = 204.15, p < .001; CFI = .94; TLI = 0.92; and RMSEA = .07 [90% CI = .06 to .09]. Findings suggest no significant direct effects of anxiety (std. beta = 0.15, p = .275) or emotion dysregulation (std. beta = 0.18, p = .177) on alcohol use disorder symptoms; moreover the indirect effect from anxiety to alcohol use disorder symptoms was not significant (std. est. = 0.15, SE = .11, 95% CI = -0.06 to 0.36).