The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in Subjective and Physiological Responses to Social and Physical Stressors

Abstract

This study examined the specificity of the relationship between anxiety sensitivity (AS), a measure of catastrophizing about arousal‐related sensations, and pain responses, by examining the effect of AS on responses to stressors of a physical and social nature. Healthy men and women (n = 129) between the ages of 18 and 25 years were recruited from the community to participate in a study examining subjective, cognitive and behavioural responses to different types of stressors. Participants were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups: (i) a neutral condition in which they sat quietly and read a popular magazine; (ii) a social stress condition in which they anticipated having to give a self‐disclosing speech; and (iii) a physical stress condition in which they were presented with 3 countdown to shock trials where a mild electrical shock was administered on the non‐dominant arm. Subjective ratings and physiological responses were recorded in anticipation of the stressor and immediately after stress exposure. Results indicated that AS was indirectly related to pain ratings via its effect on anticipatory anxiety ratings. AS was associated with anticipatory anxiety ratings, regardless of whether the stressor was of a physical or social nature. Furthermore, AS was not shown to be directly associated with exaggerated subjective or physiological reactions to the physical stressor. These results indicate that the role of AS in pain responses may be mediated through a global effect on anxiety, and limited to the anticipatory stage of the pain experience. If future studies yield similar findings in pain patients, then they would suggest that interventions for helping individuals high in AS should focus on catastrophic thinking in anticipation of stressors in general, rather than on pain‐specific stressors.

Keywords:

• anxiety sensitivity
• pain
• subjective responses
• psychophysiological responses
• gender differences
• social stress
• physical stress
• anticipatory anxiety

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation.