Intolerance of uncertainty as a predictor of anxiety severity and trajectory during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anxiety
COVID-19
Intolerance of uncertainty
Latent growth model
Longitudinal
Journal
Journal of anxiety disorders
ISSN: 1873-7897
Titre abrégé: J Anxiety Disord
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 8710131
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
03 Aug 2024
03 Aug 2024
Historique:
received:
02
02
2024
revised:
28
06
2024
accepted:
15
07
2024
medline:
12
8
2024
pubmed:
12
8
2024
entrez:
11
8
2024
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
Efforts to identify risk and resilience factors for anxiety severity and course during the COVID-19 pandemic have focused primarily on demographic rather than psychological variables. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a transdiagnostic risk factor for anxiety, may be a particularly relevant vulnerability factor. N = 641 adults with pre-pandemic anxiety data reported their anxiety, IU, and other pandemic and mental health-related variables at least once and up to four times during the COVID-19 pandemic, with assessments beginning in May 2020 through March 2021. In preregistered analyses using latent growth models, higher IU at the first pandemic timepoint predicted more severe anxiety, but also a sharper decline in anxiety, across timepoints. This finding was robust to the addition of pre-pandemic anxiety and demographic predictors as covariates (in the full sample) as well as pre-pandemic depression severity (in participants for whom pre-pandemic depression data were available). Younger age, lower self/parent education, and self-reported history of COVID-19 illness at the first pandemic timepoint predicted more severe anxiety across timepoints with strong model fit, but did not predict anxiety trajectory. IU prospectively predicted more severe anxiety but a sharper decrease in anxiety over time during the pandemic, including after adjustment for covariates. IU therefore appears to have unique and specific predictive utility with respect to anxiety in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Efforts to identify risk and resilience factors for anxiety severity and course during the COVID-19 pandemic have focused primarily on demographic rather than psychological variables. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a transdiagnostic risk factor for anxiety, may be a particularly relevant vulnerability factor.
METHOD
METHODS
N = 641 adults with pre-pandemic anxiety data reported their anxiety, IU, and other pandemic and mental health-related variables at least once and up to four times during the COVID-19 pandemic, with assessments beginning in May 2020 through March 2021.
RESULTS
RESULTS
In preregistered analyses using latent growth models, higher IU at the first pandemic timepoint predicted more severe anxiety, but also a sharper decline in anxiety, across timepoints. This finding was robust to the addition of pre-pandemic anxiety and demographic predictors as covariates (in the full sample) as well as pre-pandemic depression severity (in participants for whom pre-pandemic depression data were available). Younger age, lower self/parent education, and self-reported history of COVID-19 illness at the first pandemic timepoint predicted more severe anxiety across timepoints with strong model fit, but did not predict anxiety trajectory.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
IU prospectively predicted more severe anxiety but a sharper decrease in anxiety over time during the pandemic, including after adjustment for covariates. IU therefore appears to have unique and specific predictive utility with respect to anxiety in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Identifiants
pubmed: 39128179
pii: S0887-6185(24)00086-0
doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2024.102910
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
102910Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Declaration of Competing Interest Lauren S. Hallion and Gordon J. G. Asmundson are Associate Editor and Editor-in-Chief at Journal of Anxiety Disorders, respectively, and receive financial support through payments for their editorial work on the journal. Neither author was involved in the review of the manuscript or the decision regarding its acceptance. We have no additional conflicts of interest to declare.