Childhood anxiety sensitivity, fear downregulation, and anxious behaviors: Vagal suppression as a moderator of risk.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety sensitivity-the fear that anxiety-related sensations will result in catastrophic physical, social, or psychological consequences-is a robust risk factor for clinical anxiety. However, less is known about how anxiety sensitivity may interact with physiological modulation of arousal to predict anxious children's fear responses. The present investigation examined vagal withdrawal as a moderator of the association between anxiety sensitivity and anxious children's ability to downregulate subjective feelings of fear in response to an anxiety-provoking speech task. Observer ratings of anxious behaviors and performance during the task were also examined. It was hypothesized that children's anxiety sensitivity levels would interact with respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) suppression to exp

SUBMITTER: Viana AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7289655 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature