Negative Affect Reduction Expectancies Research Articles

Testing the interaction of thinness/restriction and negative affect reduction expectancies on disordered eating behavior

ObjectiveThinness/restriction expectancies (i.e., perceived rewards from thinness/dietary restriction) and negative affect reduction expectancies (i.e., beliefs that eating will reduce negative emotions) are associated with disordered eating, but have largely been studied in isolation despite evidence that individuals can endorse these expectancies simultaneously. Guided by the goal conflict model, we hypothesized that for individuals reporting high levels of one type of expectancy, stronger endorsement of the second expectancy category would be associated with more dietary restriction, binge eating, and compensatory behaviors. A secondary aim included testing an adapted goal conflict model. DesignInteraction effects were tested using multiple linear and negative binomial regressions. Exploratory indirect effect models tested the adapted goal conflict model. Given gender differences, hypotheses were tested separately by gender. MeasuresParticipants (N = 406, 54.2% female, non-Hispanic White = 68.8%, Mage = 20.99, MBMI = 25.05) completed measures of thinness/restriction expectancies, negative affect expectancies, dietary restriction, binge eating, and compensatory behaviors (e.g., purging, laxative/diuretic use, compensatory exercise). ResultsNo statistically significant interaction of thinness/restriction and negative affect expectancies on disordered eating was observed for either the male or female sample. Main effects models revealed consistent findings across subsamples. Greater thinness/restriction expectancies were associated with more dietary restriction, binge eating, and compensatory behaviors. Greater negative affect reduction expectancies were associated with more binge eating. Exploratory indirect effect models yielded significant effects of each expectancy category on disordered eating. ConclusionExpectancies may be independent risk factors for disordered eating. Disordered eating prevention and intervention efforts may benefit from explicitly targeting thinness/restriction and negative affect expectancies.

Greater negative affect reduction expectancies moderate the interactive relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and distress tolerance in predicting loss-of-control eating.

Loss-of-control eating (LOCE) is often conceptualized as a negative reinforcement mechanism. However, LOCE does not consistently reduce negative affect (NA). One explanation for continued LOCE, despite a lack of NA reduction, may be expectations of NA reduction. Emotion regulation difficulties and low distress tolerance often predict LOCE, but have not been examined in the context of NA reduction expectancies. This study examined the main and interactive relationships between emotion regulation difficulties, distress tolerance and NA reduction expectancies on LOCE in US adults (n=3331). This study consisted of a battery of surveys administered to a national sample of US adults. Results indicate NA reduction expectancies are robust, eclipsing the predictive effects of other emotion regulation variables. Distress tolerance was only able to attenuate the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and LOCE when NA reduction expectancies were low. These findings identify NA reduction expectancies as having a strong relationship with LOCE, such that the protective factor of distress tolerance is only relevant when such expectancies are low. Clinical implications suggest that targeting NA reduction expectancies in eating interventions that bolster emotion regulation difficulties and distress tolerance may improve the effectiveness of said interventions. Additionally, stand-alone expectancy interventions should be assessed for the purpose of LOCE reduction. Directions for future research are discussed.

Sex differences in smoking constructs and abstinence: The explanatory role of smoking outcome expectancies.

Scientific evidence suggests women experience more severe problems when attempting to quit smoking relative to men. Yet, little work has examined potential explanatory variables that maintain sex differences in clinically relevant smoking processes. Smoking outcome expectancies have demonstrated sex differences and associative relations with the smoking processes and behavior, including problems when attempting to quit, smoking-specific experiential avoidance, perceived barriers to quitting, and smoking abstinence. Thus, expectancies about the consequences of smoking may explain sex differences across these variables. Accordingly, the current study examined the explanatory role of smoking-outcome expectancies (e.g., long-term negative consequences, immediate negative consequences, sensory satisfaction, negative affect reduction, and appetite weight control) in models of sex differences across cessation-related problems, smoking-specific experiential avoidance, perceived barriers to quitting, and smoking abstinence. Participants included 450 (48.4% female; Mage = 37.45, SD = 13.50) treatment-seeking adult smokers. Results indicated that sex had an indirect effect on problems when attempting to quit smoking through immediate negative consequences and negative affect reduction expectancies; on smoking-specific experiential avoidance through long-term negative consequences, immediate negative consequences, and negative affect reduction expectancies; on barriers to quitting through negative affect reduction expectancies; and on abstinence through appetite weight control expectancies. The current findings suggest that sex differences in negative affect reduction expectancies and negative consequences expectancies may serve to maintain maladaptive smoking processes, whereas appetite weight control expectancies may promote short-term abstinence. These findings provide initial evidence for the conceptual role of smoking expectancies as potential "linking variables" for sex differences in smoking variables. (PsycINFO Database Record

Situational fears: Association with negative affect-related smoking cognition among treatment seeking smokers

Despite the consistent clinically-significant relation between smoking and anxiety and its disorders, there is limited understanding of how specific fears relate to smoking processes. To isolate therapeutic targets for smoking-anxiety treatment development, there is a need to identify the underlying situational fears most related to smoking processes. Thus, the present study examined the association between interoceptive, agoraphobic, and social fears in terms of clinically significant negative affect-related smoking cognitions including negative affect reduction expectancies, coping motives, and perceived internal barriers to cessation. Participants were 469 treatment seeking smokers (48.2% female, Mage = 36.59, SD = 13.58) enrolled in a smoking cessation trial and completed baseline measures of smoking cognitions and situational fears. Results indicated that the there was a significant effect for social fears, relative to interoceptive and agoraphobic fears, for each of the studied clinically relevant smoking variables. Overall, this study offers initial empirical evidence that social fears are significantly and consistently related to several clinically-significant types of smoking cognition.

Emotion dysregulation and smoking among treatment-seeking smokers

IntroductionThere has been increased scholarly interest in advancing the study of emotion dysregulation and substance use. However, there is limited study of emotion dysregulation in the context of smoking. The current study examined the emotion dysregulation global construct and sub facets in relation to negative affect reduction expectancies, coping motives, perceived barriers for quitting, and the severity of problems experienced during quit attempts. MethodTreatment seeking smokers (n=469; 48.2% female, Mage=36.59, SD=13.58) enrolled in a smoking cessation trial and completed baseline measures of smoking cognitions and emotion dysregulation. ResultsResults indicated that the emotion dysregulation global score was significantly associated with each of the smoking dependent variables. Additionally, difficulty accessing emotion regulation strategies and difficulty engaging in goal-directed behavior were significantly associated with the dependent variables. ConclusionOverall, this is the first study to evaluate relations between multidimensional facets of emotion dysregulation and clinically relevant smoking variables. Emotion dysregulation may be an important treatment target for changing smoking.

The sequential pathway between trauma-related symptom severity and cognitive-based smoking processes through perceived stress and negative affect reduction expectancies among trauma exposed smokers.

Smoking rates are markedly higher among trauma-exposed individuals relative to non-trauma-exposed individuals. Extant work suggests that both perceived stress and negative affect reduction smoking expectancies are independent mechanisms that link trauma-related symptoms and smoking. Yet, no work has examined perceived stress and negative affect reduction smoking expectancies as potential explanatory variables for the relation between trauma-related symptom severity and smoking in a sequential pathway model. Methods The present study utilized a sample of treatment-seeking, trauma-exposed smokers (n = 363; 49.0% female) to examine perceived stress and negative affect reduction expectancies for smoking as potential sequential explanatory variables linking trauma-related symptom severity and nicotine dependence, perceived barriers to smoking cessation, and severity of withdrawal-related problems and symptoms during past quit attempts. As hypothesized, perceived stress and negative affect reduction expectancies had a significant sequential indirect effect on trauma-related symptom severity and criterion variables. Findings further elucidate the complex pathways through which trauma-related symptoms contribute to smoking behavior and cognitions, and highlight the importance of addressing perceived stress and negative affect reduction expectancies in smoking cessation programs among trauma-exposed individuals. (Am J Addict 2016;25:565-572).

Interplay of dysphoria and anxiety sensitivity in relation to emotion regulatory cognitions of smoking among treatment-seeking smokers.

There is evidence that anxiety sensitivity (AS) plays a role in the maintenance of smoking, yet there is little understanding of how AS interplays with other affective symptomatology variables that are also related to smoking, such as dysphoria. Therefore, the current cross-sectional study evaluated the interactive effects of AS and dysphoria on emotion regulatory cognitions, including smoking negative affect reduction expectancies, perceived barriers for cessation, and smoking-specific experiential avoidance. A total of 448 adult treatment-seeking daily smokers, who responded to study advertisements, were recruited to participate in a smoking cessation treatment trial (47.8% female; Mage = 37.2, SD = 13.5). The current study utilized self-report baseline data from trial participants. After accounting for covariates, simple slope analyses revealed that AS was positively related to negative affect reduction expectancies (β = .03, p = .01), perceived barriers to cessation (β = .22, p = .002), and smoking avoidance and inflexibility (β = .07, p = .04), among smokers with lower (vs. higher) levels of dysphoria. The current findings suggest that higher levels of dysphoria may mitigate the relation between AS and emotion regulatory cognitions of smoking. The current findings highlight the unique and additive clinical relevance of AS and dysphoria regarding emotion regulatory smoking cognitions that may impede quit success. (Am J Addict 2016;25:267-274).

Anxiety sensitivity and pre-cessation smoking processes: testing the independent and combined mediating effects of negative affect-reduction expectancies and motives.

Anxiety sensitivity appears to be relevant in understanding the nature of emotional symptoms and disorders associated with smoking. Negative-reinforcement smoking expectancies and motives are implicated as core regulatory processes that may explain, in part, the anxiety sensitivity-smoking interrelations; however, these pathways have received little empirical attention. Participants (N = 471) were adult treatment-seeking daily smokers assessed for a smoking-cessation trial who provided baseline data; 157 participants provided within-treatment (pre-cessation) data. Anxiety sensitivity was examined as a cross-sectional predictor of several baseline smoking processes (nicotine dependence, perceived barriers to cessation, severity of prior withdrawal-related quit problems) and pre-cessation processes including nicotine withdrawal and smoking urges (assessed during 3 weeks before the quit day). Baseline negative-reinforcement smoking expectancies and motives were tested as simultaneous mediators via parallel multiple mediator models. Higher levels of anxiety sensitivity were related to higher levels of nicotine dependence, greater perceived barriers to smoking cessation, more severe withdrawal-related problems during prior quit attempts, and greater average withdrawal before the quit day; effects were indirectly explained by the combination of both mediators. Higher levels of anxiety sensitivity were not directly related to pre-cessation smoking urges but were indirectly related through the independent and combined effects of the mediators. These empirical findings bolster theoretical models of anxiety sensitivity and smoking and identify targets for nicotine dependence etiology research and cessation interventions.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms and tobacco abstinence effects in a non-clinical sample: evaluating the mediating role of negative affect reduction smoking expectancies.

The relation between posttraumatic stress symptoms and smoking is well documented but poorly understood. The present investigation sought to evaluate the impact of posttraumatic stress symptoms on subjective and behavioral tobacco abstinence effects both directly and indirectly through negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies. Participants included 275 (68.7% male; Mage =43.9, 10+ cig/day) adult non-treatment seeking smokers, who attended two counterbalanced laboratory sessions (16 h of smoking deprivation vs ad libitum smoking), during which they completed self-report measures of withdrawal symptoms and mood followed by a smoking lapse task in which they could earn money for delaying smoking and purchase cigarettes to smoke. Results supported a mediational pathway whereby higher baseline symptoms of posttraumatic stress predicted greater endorsement of expectancies that smoking will effectively reduce negative affect, which in turn predicted greater abstinence-provoked exacerbations in nicotine withdrawal symptoms and negative affect. Posttraumatic stress symptoms also predicted number of cigarettes purchased independent of negative affect reduction expectancies, but did not predict delaying smoking for money. Findings highlight tobacco abstinence effects as a putative mechanism underlying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-smoking comorbidity, indicate an important mediating role of beliefs for smoking-induced negative affect reduction, and shed light on integrated treatment approaches for these two conditions.

An initial investigation of the relationships between hoarding and smoking

Cigarette smokers have increased rates of mood and anxiety-related conditions. Hoarding is another anxiety-related condition that has yet to be examined in relation to smoking behavior. The current investigation sought to examine smoking rates among a sample of individuals with hoarding disorder and individuals with non-hoarding obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Additionally, we examined the relationship between hoarding symptoms and reasons for smoking. Participants in Study 1 consisted of 57 individuals with non-hoarding OCD or hoarding disorder. Participants in Study 2 consisted of 661 adult daily smokers. Results revealed that a significantly greater proportion of individuals diagnosed with hoarding were current smokers compared to the non-hoarding OCD group. Additionally, hoarding severity was associated with negative affect reduction expectancies. These results provide important information regarding smoking behaviors within hoarding disorder. Given the poor treatment outcomes and negative health risks associated with hoarding, this information could inform future research and treatment programs.

Emotion-based impulsivity, smoking expectancies, and nicotine dependence in college students

The aim of this study was to enhance our understanding of the relationship between affect-related dispositions to rash action, negative urgency (NU: the tendency to act rashly when in a negative mood), positive urgency (PU: the tendency to act rashly when in a positive mood), and level of nicotine dependence symptoms by examining how the two traits transact with affect-related smoking expectancies. Based on the Acquired Preparedness model of addictive behaviors, we hypothesized that the relationship between PU and level of nicotine dependence would be mediated by positive affect smoking expectancies. We also hypothesized that the relationship between NU and level of nicotine dependence would be mediated by negative affect reduction expectancies. We studied 131 college-aged smokers and found support for this model; positive affect expectancies for smoking mediated the relationship between PU and level of nicotine dependence symptoms. Negative affect reduction smoking expectancies mediated the relationship between NU and level of nicotine dependence. The clinical implications of this research suggest that prevention/intervention programs should include substance-free activities as reinforcement and as ways to deal with extreme positive and negative mood.

The Role of Mindful Attention in Regard to the Relation Between Negative Affect Reduction Outcome Expectancies and Emotional Vulnerability Among Adult Cigarette Smokers.

The present investigation examined the role of mindful attention in regard to the relation between negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies and anxious arousal and anhedonic depression symptoms and difficulties with emotion regulation among 174 (46% women; M age = 25.32 years, SD = 10.51) daily cigarette smokers. As predicted, there was a significant interaction for negative affect reduction smoking outcome expectancies and mindful attention in relation to anxious arousal symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties. Individuals endorsing both higher levels of negative affect reduction outcome expectancies and lower levels of mindful attention reported the greatest anxious arousal symptoms and difficulties with emotion regulation, while those reporting both lower levels of negative affect reduction expectancies and higher levels of mindful attention were associated with lesser anxious arousal symptoms and the least difficulties with emotion regulation. There was no interactive effect for anhedonic depression symptoms. Findings are discussed in relation to better understanding the clinically meaningful interplay between mindful attention and negative affect reduction outcome expectancies among cigarette smokers in terms of affective vulnerability.

Smokers' expectancies for nicotine replacement therapy vs. cigarettes.

Smokers (N=188) recruited from the local community completed a questionnaire that measured expected outcomes of using cigarettes, nicotine gum, nicotine patch, and nicotine nasal spray. Expectancy questions relating to negative affect, craving, weight, and health risks were derived from the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire-Adult. As predicted, smokers held much greater expectancies that cigarettes help control negative affect, craving, and weight relative to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). All NRT products were expected to cause fewer health risks than cigarette smoking. As predicted, smokers held strong negative affect reduction expectancies for cigarette smoking. For NRT, although still relatively low, craving reduction was the strongest expectancy. Individuals who had experience using the nicotine patch had greater positive expectancies for NRT. Greater positive expectancies for NRT were correlated with more immediate plans to quit smoking. In summary, cigarette smokers' positive expectancies about cigarettes do not appear to generalize to NRT products, which may limit their use and effectiveness.