Exploration of the Relevance of Anxiety Sensitivity among Adults Living with HIV/AIDS for Understanding Anxiety Vulnerability

Abstract

This investigation explored facets of anxiety sensitivity (AS—social, physical and mental concerns) in regard to somatization, anxiety and depression symptoms among people with HIV/AIDS. Significant relations were found for AS-physical concerns and somatization symptoms (β = .52, p = .007) and AS-mental concerns and anxiety symptoms (β = .29, p < .05), controlling for negative affectivity, gender and shared variance with other AS subscales. Together, AS subscales were significantly related to depression symptoms (ΔR² = .11; p = .006), but no one subscale was independently related. Findings are discussed in terms of examining AS in better understanding the HIV/AIDS—anxiety relation.

Keywords

anxiety anxiety sensitivity depression HIV/AIDS somatization

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