Anxiety Sensitivity and Panic-Related Symptomatology in a Representative Community-Based Sample: A 1-Year Longitudinal Analysis

Anxiety sensitivity is the fear of anxiety sensations based on beliefs that they have harmful physical, psychological, or social consequences. Anxiety sensitivity may represent a psychological vulnerability for panic attacks, but much of the research to date has been limited to selective college student or treatment-seeking samples. There is a paucity of research based on representative community-based samples. There is also a lack of longitudinal research in this regard. The current study addressed both of these issues by investigating the impact of anxiety sensitivity in a large community sample (N = 585) assessed longitudinally over a 1-year period. A hierarchical regression model was used to determine whether baseline scores on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) could prospectively predict scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), a continuous scale that is largely a measure of panic-related symptomatology. Baseline BAI scores, neuroticism and stressful life events’ main effects, their interaction, and the ASI were all significant predictors of Time 2 BAI scores. The results thereby show that anxiety sensitivity predicts subsequent panic-related symptomatology even after adjusting for the effects of neuroticism, stressful life events, and their interaction.