Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:54:28.623Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anxiety sensitivity, disgust sensitivity and aversive reactions to four stimuli

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2020

Jessica R. Winder ,
Katie H. Mangen ,
Anna E. Martinez-Snyder  and
David P. Valentiner
Jessica R. Winder
Affiliation:
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
Katie H. Mangen
Affiliation:
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
Anna E. Martinez-Snyder
Affiliation:
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
David P. Valentiner*
Affiliation:
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Prior theory and research has implicated disgust as relevant to some, but not all phobias.

Aims:

The current study examined whether anxiety sensitivity is more relevant to certain specific phobias and whether disgust sensitivity is more relevant to other specific phobias.

Method:

Participants (n = 201) completed measures of anxiety sensitivity, disgust sensitivity and measures of aversive reactions in the presence of two fear-relevant stimuli (i.e. heights and small, enclosed spaces) and two disgust-relevant stimuli (i.e. spiders and blood/injury).

Results:

Results of multiple linear regression analyses revealed that disgust sensitivity showed significant associations with aversive reactions in all four stimulus domains after controlling for anxiety sensitivity. After controlling for disgust sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity showed associations with the two fear-relevant phobias but not with the two disgust-relevant phobias included in this study. Anxiety sensitivity also showed an association with variance specific to one of the two fear-relevant specific phobias included in the study. Disgust sensitivity also showed associations with variance specific to both of the disgust-relevant phobias included in the study but not with variance specific to either of the fear-relevant specific phobias.

Conclusions:

These results provide evidence that the distinction between fear-relevant and disgust-relevant specific phobias is meaningful and also implicate disgust sensitivity as relevant to aversive reactions to all stimuli included in this study.

Keywords

acrophobiaanxiety sensitivityarachnophobiablood phobiaclaustrophobiadisgust sensitivityspecific phobia
Type
Main
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , March 2021 , pp. 206 - 217
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edn). Arlington, VA, USA: American Psychiatric Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 Google Scholar
Bandelow, B. & Michaelis, S. (2015). Epidemiology of anxiety disorders in the 21st century. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 17, 327–335.Google ScholarPubMed
Cavanagh, K., & Davey, G. C. L. (2000). The development of a measure of individual differences in disgust. British Psychology Society, Winchester, UK.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018). Venomous Spiders. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/spiders/symptoms.html Google Scholar
Craske, M. G., Kircanski, K., Zelikowsky, M., Mystkowski, J., Chowdury, N., & Baker, A. (2008). Optimizing inhibitory learning during exposure therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 5–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2007.10.003 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davey, G. C. L. (1994). Self-reported fears to common indigenous animals in an adult UK population: the role of disgust sensitivity. British Journal of Psychology, 85, 541–554. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1994.tb02540.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davey, G. C. L. & Bond, N. (2006). Using controlled comparisons in disgust psychopathology research: the case of disgust, hypochondriasis, and health anxiety. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 37, 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2005.09.001 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Jong, P. & Muris, P. (2002). Spider phobia: interaction of disgust and perceived likelihood of involuntary physical contact. Anxiety Disorders, 16, 51–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6185(01)00089-5 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Jong, P. J., Peters, M., & Vanderhallen, I. (2002). Disgust and disgust sensitivity in spider phobia: facial EMG in response to spider and oral disgust imagery. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 16, 477–493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Jongh, A., Oosterink, F. M., Kieffer, J. M., Hoogstraten, J., & Aartman, I. H. (2011). The structure of common fears: comparing three different models. American Journal of Psychology, 124, 141–149. https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.124.2.0141 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fergus, T. A., & Valentiner, D. P. (2009). The Disgust Propensity and Sensitivity Scale-Revised: an examination of a reduced-item version. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23, 703–710. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.02.009 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goetz, A. R., Cougle, J. R., & Lee, H. J. (2013). Revisiting the factor structure of the 12-item Disgust Propensity and Sensitivity Scale-Revised: evidence for a third component. Personality and Individual Differences, 55, 579–584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.04.029 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haslam, N., Holland, E., & Kuppens, P. (2012). Categories versus dimensions in personality and psychopathology: a quantitative review of taxometric research. Psychological Medicine, 42, 903–920. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291711001966 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayes, A. F. (2012). PROCESS: a versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling [White paper]. Retrieved from: http://www.afhayes.com/public/process2012.pdf Google Scholar
Klieger, D. M. & Siejak, K. K. (1997). Disgust as the source of false positive effects in the measurement of ophidiophobia. Journal of Psychology, 131, 371–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223989709603523 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matchett, G., & Davey, G. C. L. (1991). A test of a disease-avoidance model of animal phobias. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29, 91–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(09)80011-9 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCraw, K. S., & Valentiner, D. P. (2015). The Circumscribed Fear Measure: development and initial validation of a trans-stimulus phobia measure. Psychological Assessment, 27, 403–413. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000046 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDonald, S. D., Hartman, N. S., & Vrana, S. R. (2008). Trait anxiety, disgust sensitivity, and the hierarchic structure of fears. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22, 1059–1074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.11.005 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merckelbach, H., de Jong, P., Arntz, A., & Schouten, E. (1993). The role of evaluative learning and disgust sensitivity in the etiology and treatment of spider phobia. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 15, 243–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/0146-6402(93)90011-P CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Schmidt, H., & Tierney, S. (1999). Disgust sensitivity, trait anxiety and anxiety disorders symptoms in normal children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 953–961. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(99)00045-5 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reiss, S., & McNally, R. J. (1985). Expectancy model of fear. In Reiss, S., & Bootzin, R. R. (eds), Theoretical Issues in Behavior Therapy Inside. New York, USA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, S. (2014). Anxiety sensitivity: Theory, Research, and Treatment of the Fear of Anxiety. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410603326 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, S., Zvolensky, M. J., Cox, B. J., Deacon, B., Heimberg, R. G., Ledley, D. R., & Cardenas, S. J. (2007). Robust dimensions of anxiety sensitivity: development and initial validation of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3. Psychological Assessment, 19, 176–188. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.19.2.176 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tettamanti, M., Rognoni, E., Cafiero, R., Costa, T., Galati, D., & Perani, D. (2012). Distinct pathways of neural coupling for different basic emotions. Neuroimage, 59, 1804–1817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.018 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tolin, D. F., Lohr, J. M., Sawchuk, C. N., & Lee, T. C. (1997). Disgust and disgust sensitivity in blood-injection-injury and spider phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 949–953. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(97)00048-X CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Valentiner, D. P., Telch, M. J., Petruzzi, D. C., & Bolte, M. C. (1996). Cognitive mechanisms in claustrophobia: an examination of Reiss and McNally’s expectancy model and Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 20, 593–612. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02227963 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Overveld, W. J. M., de Jong, P. J., Peters, M. L., Cavanagh, K., & Davey, G. C. L. (2006). Disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity: separate constructs that are differentially related to specific fears. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 1241–1252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.04.021 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Overveld, M., de Jong, P. J., Peters, M. L., van Hout, W. J., & Bouman, T. K. (2008). An internet-based study on the relation between disgust sensitivity and emetophobia. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22, 524–531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.04.001 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vernon, L. L., & Berenbaum, H. (2002). Disgust and fear in response to spiders. Cognition & Emotion, 16, 809–830. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930143000464 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widiger, T. A., & Gore, W. L. (2014). Mental disorders as discrete clinical conditions: dimensional versus categorical classification. In Beidel, D. C., Frueh, C. & Hersen, M. (eds), Adult Psychopathology and Diagnosis, pp. 3–33. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley.Google Scholar
Woody, S. R. & Teachman, B. A. (2000). Intersection of disgust and fear: normative and pathological views. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 7, 291–311. https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.7.3.291 Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.