A Concurrent Test of the Anxiety Sensitivity Taxon: Its Relation to Bodily Vigilance and Perceptions of Control Over Anxiety-Related Events in a Sample of Young Adults

Abstract

The present investigation evaluated the Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) taxon using the 16-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index (Reiss, Peterson, Gursky, & McNally, 1986) and its relation with two theoretically relevant cognitive processes associated with panic vulnerability: bodily vigilance and perceived uncontrollability over anxiety-related events. Taxometric analyses of 589 young adults indicated that the latent structure of AS was taxonic with an estimated base rate ranging between 13% and 14%. As predicted, an 8-item ASI Taxon Scale accounted for significant variance above and beyond that accounted for by the full-scale ASI total score in terms of bodily vigilance and perceived controllability of anxiety-related events. Moreover, after accounting for the variance explained by the full-scale ASI total score, the total score for the 8 ASI items not included in the ASI Taxon Scale was associated with significant variance in these same dependent measures, but it was in the opposite direction from that predicted by contemporary panic disorder theory. Dichotomous taxon membership accounted for significant variance above total ASI scores for bodily vigilance but not perceptions of control for anxiety-related events. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for the study of AS and panic vulnerability.