Margo C. Watt – Dalhousie University, SRG 2006
Français
This research project has three main objectives. The first objective is to investigate
the relationship between anxiety sensitivity (AS) and physical activity in a sample of young adults. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a dispositional variable referring to the fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations arising from beliefs that these sensations have harmful physical, psychological, and/or social consequences. High AS has been implicated in the development
of psychopathology (e.g., anxiety and related disorders) but also has been implicated as a risk factor for physical pathology (low levels of physical activity). It has been suggested that, because exercise produces physiological sensations similar to those feared by individuals with high AS (e.g., elevated heart rate), it tends to be avoided. An alternative explanation is that a lack
of exposure to these sensations resulting from physical inactivity promotes increased AS.
The second objective of this research project is to investigate childhood learning experiences related to the development of both AS levels and physical activity habits. My early work demonstrated links between retrospectively-reported childhood learning experiences
and elevated AS in young adulthood, and found AS to mediate relations between childhood learning experiences and elevated health-related concerns in young adulthood. Although some attempts have been made to identify factors that may influence physical activity habits, knowledge in this area remains rudimentary. Research has found some evidence for the influence of social learning factors (e.g., parental reinforcement and parental modeling) on children’s health-related activities. Collection of parental validation data will allow for corroboration
of students’ retrospective accounting. The third objective of the present research is to investigate the process through which a brief cognitive behavioural intervention that includes physical exercise as the interoceptive exposure component decreases anxiety sensitivity (AS) in
a non-clinical population. A brief cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) that includes
an interoceptive exposure (IE) component (i.e., running) has been found to be effective
in decreasing fear of anxiety-related sensations in high anxiety sensitive (AS) women (see Watt, Stewart, Birch, & Bernier, 2006). The current research project included a process-based study which examined the specific role of the IE component in explaining intervention efficacy. This study found that the affective and cognitive reactions, and objective physiological reactivity,
to the running were initially higher in high (vs. low) AS participants and decreased over IE trials in high (vs. low) AS participants. In contrast, self-reported somatic reactions, which were initially greater in the high AS participants, decreased comparably in both AS groups over IE trials. Findings were consistent with the theorized cognitive and/or habituation pathways to decreased AS.
This research project has three main objectives. The first objective is to investigate the relationship between anxiety sensitivity (AS) and physical activity in a sample of young adults. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a dispositional variable referring to the fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations arising from beliefs that these sensations have harmful physical, psychological, and/or social consequences. High AS has been implicated in the development of psychopathology (e.g., anxiety and related disorders) but also has been implicated as a risk factor for physical pathology (low levels of physical activity). It has been suggested that, because exercise produces physiological sensations similar to those feared by individuals with high AS (e.g., elevated heart rate), it tends to be avoided. An alternative explanation is that a lack of exposure to these sensations resulting from physical inactivity promotes increased AS. The second objective of this research project is to investigate childhood learning experiences related to the development of both AS levels and physical activity habits. My early work demonstrated links between retrospectively-reported childhood learning experiences and elevated AS in young adulthood, and found AS to mediate relations between childhood learning experiences and elevated health-related concerns in young adulthood. Although some attempts have been made to identify factors that may influence physical activity habits, knowledge in this area remains rudimentary. Research has found some evidence for the influence of social learning factors (e.g., parental reinforcement and parental modeling) on children’s health-related activities. Collection of parental validation data will allow for corroboration of students’ retrospective accounting. The third objective of the present research is to investigate the process through which a brief cognitive behavioural intervention that includes physical exercise as the interoceptive exposure component decreases anxiety sensitivity (AS) in a non-clinical population. A brief cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) that includes an interoceptive exposure (IE) component (i.e., running) has been found to be effective in decreasing fear of anxiety-related sensations in high anxiety sensitive (AS) women (see Watt, Stewart, Birch, & Bernier, 2006). The current research project included a process-based study which examined the specific role of the IE component in explaining intervention efficacy. This study found that the affective and cognitive reactions, and objective physiological reactivity, to the running were initially higher in high (vs. low) AS participants and decreased over IE trials in high (vs. low) AS participants. In contrast, self-reported somatic reactions, which were initially greater in the high AS participants, decreased comparably in both AS groups over IE trials. Findings were consistent with the theorized cognitive and/or habituation pathways to decreased AS.
This research project has three main objectives. The first objective is to investigate the
relationship between anxiety sensitivity (AS) and physical activity in a sample of young adults.
Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a dispositional variable referring to the fear of anxiety-related bodily
sensations arising from beliefs that these sensations have harmful physical, psychological,
and/or social consequences. High AS has been implicated in the development of
psychopathology (e.g., anxiety and related disorders) but also has been implicated as a risk
factor for physical pathology. There is some evidence that high levels of AS are associated with
low levels of physical activity. It has been suggested that, because exercise produces
physiological sensations similar to those feared by individuals with high AS (e.g., elevated heart
rate), it tends to be avoided. An alternative explanation is that a lack of exposure to these
sensations resulting from physical inactivity promotes increased AS. The second objective of
this research project is to investigate childhood learning experiences related to the development
of both AS levels and physical activity habits. My early work demonstrated links between
retrospectively-reported childhood learning experiences and elevated AS in young adulthood,
and found AS to mediate relations between childhood learning experiences and elevated healthrelated
concerns in young adulthood. Although some attempts have been made to identify
factors that may influence physical activity habits, knowledge in this area remains rudimentary.
Research has found some evidence for the influence of social learning factors (e.g., parental
reinforcement and parental modeling) on children’s health-related activities. Collection of
parental validation data will allow for corroboration of students’ retrospective accounting, as well
as provide information regarding parents’ AS levels, attitudes toward physical activity, exercise
habits, social learning variables relevant to those habits, and contribution to their children’s
exercise habits. The third objective of the present research is to investigate the process through
which a brief cognitive behavioural intervention that includes physical exercise as the
interoceptive exposure component decreases anxiety sensitivity (AS) in a non-clinical
population. In this study, participants who are either high or low in AS will be randomly assigned
to receive either: (1) a brief cognitive behavioural treatment (CBT), consisting of three 50-minute
sessions (CBT treatment group); (2) health education, also consisting of three 50-minute
sessions (health education control; HEC); or (3) to be on a wait-list control (wait-list control
group; WLC). The interoceptive exposure component will consist of several running sessions
lasting 10 minutes each. It is anticipated that AS levels in those participants who are high AS
will decrease as a result of the brief CBT treatment, replicating findings from previous studies
(Watt, Stewart, Birch, & Bernier, 2006; Watt, Stewart, Lefaivre, & Uman, 2006). However, it is
presently unknown whether decreases in AS levels are due to affective changes, to cognitive
changes, and/or to changes in physical fitness levels. This study will follow participants through
a 14-week period as they regularly perform the interoceptive exposure component (i.e.,
running), recording levels of cognitive, affective, and somatic reactions, as well as heart rates
and breathing rates after every running session. Thus, the study will focus on the processes
through which the running component achieves the decreases in AS levels. In summary, the
proposed research should enhance our understanding of an important risk factor for both
psychological and physical well-being; elucidate the role of AS as a potential barrier to physical
activity; as well as contribute to the emerging literature on intervention and prevention initiatives
designed to reduce such risk factors.
SCRI 2007 Presentation Slides
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