Deconstructing trait anxiety: a network perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground and objectives: For decades, the dominant paradigm in trait anxiety research has regarded the construct as signifying the underlying cause of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that supposedly reflect its presence. Recently, a network theory of personality has appeared. According to this perspective, trait anxiety is a formative construct emerging from interactions among its constitutive features (e.g., thought, feelings, behaviors); it is not a latent cause of these features.Design: In this study, we characterized trait anxiety as a network system of interacting elements.Methods: To do so, we estimated a graphical gaussian model via the computation of a regularized partial correlation network in an unselected sample (N = 611). We also implemented modularity-based community detection analysis to test whether the features of trait anxiety cohere as a single network system.Results: We find that trait anxiety can indeed be conceptualized as a single, coherent network system of interacting elements.Conclusions: This radically new approach to visualizing trait anxiety may offer an especially informative view of the interplay between its constitutive features. As prior research has implicated trait anxiety as a risk factor for the development of anxiety-related psychopathology, our findings also set the scene for novel research directions.