Citation

Zvolensky MJ, Jardin C, Rogers AH, Bakhshaie J, Mayorga NA, Viana AG, Walker RL, Cardoso JB, Garey L. Cultur. Divers. Ethnic Minor. Psychol. 2018; 24(4): 470-476.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues; American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/cdp0000208

PMID

29952581

Abstract

There are elevated rates of trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and greater conditional risk of posttraumatic stress disorder among Latinx relative to other racial/ethnic groups. Such trauma-related health disparities serve to exacerbate or maintain acculturative and other types of stress among the Latinx population. Yet, little research has explored what types of individual difference factors may undergird variability in acculturative stress among trauma-exposed Latinx persons. Accordingly, the present investigation examined individual differences in anxiety sensitivity (fear of the negative consequences of stress sensations) in relation to acculturative stress among a large sample of trauma-exposed Latinx young adults (n = 1,377 persons; M_age = 21.01; SD = 2.50; age range: 18-29 years; 76.7% female).

RESULTS demonstrated that anxiety sensitivity explained 10.2% of unique variance in acculturative stress (p <.001, adjusted R² =.188) after accounting for age, sexual minority status, history of trauma exposure, and posttraumatic stress symptom severity. Additionally, each of the 3 subfactors of anxiety sensitivity (Physical, Cognitive, and Social) were directly related to acculturative stress despite sharing variance with one another. Overall, the current findings suggest that anxiety sensitivity may be a heretofore underrecognized individual difference factor that is related to more severe acculturative stress among trauma-exposed Latinx young adults. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Language: en