Health specific traits beyond the Five Factor Model, cognitive processes and trait expression: replies to Watson (2012), Matthews (2012) and Haslam, Jetten, Reynolds, and Reicher (2012)

Predicting PTSS in general population during COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of health anxiety

BACKGROUND

Despite health anxiety (HA) is associated with higher incidence of anxiety disorders, no studies have examined the association between this variable and the increased levels of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) reported during COVID pandemic.

METHODS

This study was conducted online between April and May 2020. Data were collected from 468 men and women from the Spanish general population. Sociodemographic and COVID-19-related data, health anxiety, PTSS, fear of becoming infected, social support, sleep problems and past/current psychological/psychiatric history were assessed. The mediating effect of HA when predicting PTSS was explored with mediational analyses. Moderated mediational analyses were also performed to test if receiving psychological treatment during pandemic changes the mediating effect of HA.

RESULTS

Prevalence of PTSS was higher in high-scorers in HA (p<.01). High HA was also more likely to be reported by women, individuals with sleep problems, frequently fear of getting infected, and those who have previously received psychological treatment (p<.01). HA mediates the relationship between PTSS and the following predictors of PTSS: sleep problems, psychiatric history and fear of getting infected. Being under psychological treatment did not moderate the mediating effect of health anxiety.

LIMITATIONS

Further longitudinal studies with bigger sample sizes are needed to examine the causal relationship between HA and PTSS after COVID-19 pandemic.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that HA could influence the psychological consequences of the pandemic. Screening of HA could be useful to identify people with heightened risk of developing PTSS during pandemic.

Is metacognition a causal moderator of the relationship between catastrophic misinterpretation and health anxiety? A prospective study

Psychological theories have identified a range of variables contributing to health anxiety, including, dysfunctional illness beliefs, catastrophic misinterpretation, somatosensory amplification and neuroticism. More recently, metacognitive beliefs have been proposed as important in health anxiety. This study aimed to test the potential causal role of metacognitive beliefs in health anxiety. A prospective design was employed and participants (n = 105) completed a battery of questionnaire at two time points (6 months apart). Results demonstrated that cognitive, personality and metacognitive variables were bi-variate prospective correlates of health anxiety. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that only metacognitive beliefs emerged as independent and significant prospective predictors of health anxiety. Moderation analysis demonstrated that metacognitive beliefs prospectively moderated the relationship between catastrophic misinterpretation and health anxiety. Follow-up regression analysis incorporating the interaction term (metacognition × misinterpretation) showed that the term explained additional variance in health anxiety. The results confirm that metacognition is a predictor of health anxiety and it is more substantive than misinterpretations of symptoms, somatosensory amplification, neuroticism, and illness beliefs. These results may have major implications for current cognitive models and for the treatment of health anxiety.

Psychosocial risk factors for hypertension: an update of the literature

A growing body of research demonstrates that psychosocial factors play an important role in the development of hypertension. Previous reviews have identified several key factors (i.e., occupational stress) that contribute to the onset of hypertension; however, they are now outdated. In this review, we provide an updated synthesis of the literature from 2010 to April 2014. We identified 21 articles for inclusion in the review, of which there were six categories of psychosocial stressors: occupational stress, personality, mental health, housing instability, social support/isolation, and sleep quality. Sixteen of the studies reported an association between the psychosocial stressor and blood pressure. While several findings were consistent with previous literature, new findings regarding mediating and moderating factors underlying the psychosocial-hypertension association help to untangle inconsistencies reported in the literature. Moreover, sleep quality is a novel additional factor that should undergo further exploration. Areas for future research based on these findings are discussed.

Do personality traits predict individual differences in excitatory and inhibitory learning?

Conditioned inhibition (CI) is demonstrated in classical conditioning when a stimulus is used to signal the omission of an otherwise expected outcome. This basic learning ability is involved in a wide range of normal behavior – and thus its disruption could produce a correspondingly wide range of behavioral deficits. The present study employed a computer-based task to measure conditioned excitation and inhibition in the same discrimination procedure. CI by summation test was clearly demonstrated. Additionally summary measures of excitatory and inhibitory learning (difference scores) were calculated in order to explore how performance related to individual differences in a large sample of normal participants (n = 176 following exclusion of those not meeting the basic learning criterion). The individual difference measures selected derive from two biologically based personality theories, Gray’s (1982) reinforcement sensitivity theory and Eysenck and Eysenck (1991) psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism theory. Following the behavioral tasks, participants completed the behavioral inhibition system/behavioral activation system (BIS/BAS) scales and the Eysenck personality questionnaire revised short scale (EPQ-RS). Analyses of the relationship between scores on each of the scales and summary measures of excitatory and inhibitory learning suggested that those with higher BAS (specifically the drive sub-scale) and higher EPQ-RS neuroticism showed reduced levels of excitatory conditioning. Inhibitory conditioning was similarly attenuated in those with higher EPQ-RS neuroticism, as well as in those with higher BIS scores. Thus the findings are consistent with higher levels of neuroticism being accompanied by generally impaired associative learning, both inhibitory and excitatory. There was also evidence for some dissociation in the effects of behavioral activation and behavioral inhibition on excitatory and inhibitory learning respectively.