The genetic and environmental structure of fear and anxiety in juvenile twins.

Fear and anxiety are conceptualized as responses to acute or potential threat, respectively. Adult twin studies found substantial interplay between genetic and environmental factors influencing fear disorders (phobias) and anxiety disorders. Research in children, however, has largely examined these factors independently. Thus, there exists a substantial knowledge gap regarding the underlying etiologic structure of these closely-related constructs during development. Symptom counts for five fear (criticism, the unknown, death, animal, medical) and four anxiety (generalized, panic, separation, social) dimensions were obtained for 373 twin pairs ages 9-14. Multivariate twin modeling was performed to elucidate the genetic and environmental influences distributed amongst these dimensions. The best fitting model contained one genetic, two familial environmental, and two unique environmental factors shared between fear and anxiety symptoms plus dimension-specific genetic and unique environmental factors. Although several environmental factors were shared between fear and anxiety dimensions, one latent factor accounted for genetic influences across both domains. While adult studies find somewhat distinct etiological differences between anxiety and phobic disorders, the current results suggest that their relative genetic and environmental influences are not as clearly demarcated in children. These etiological distinctions are more nuanced, likely contributing to the highly diffuse symptom patterns seen during development

Supplementary material to: Examining Associations Between Distress Tolerance and Anxiety Sensitivity and Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) Using Multimodal Assessments

Trauma is common, and associated with PTSD and AUD, which co-occur. One explanation for this co-occurrence is that shared risk factors, such as anxiety sensitivity (AS), the cognitive appraisal of anxiety symptoms as harmful, and distress tolerance (DT), the perceived ability to withstand negative emotional states, may drive both conditions. The goal of this study was to test whether multimodal measures of AS (i.e., CO2 breathing task) and DT (i.e., computer-based tasks), are associated with PTSD and AUD symptoms and whether the AS measures in particular were associated with group membership (AUD-PTSD, AUD, PTSD, or trauma-exposed controls) in multivariate path models. Participants were recruited from a longitudinal study of college students and were eligible if they reported lifetime trauma and alcohol use, and if they lived in proximity of the lab. After completing an initial survey, participants who met criteria for one of the four groups included in the lab study (n=90), involving collection of subjective (e.g., self-report of psychophysiological symptoms) and physiological (i.e., heart rate, skin conductance) measures during the breathing task. Individuals with AUD-PTSD reported higher self-report ratings of psychophysiological symptoms during the recovery phase, compared to PTSD, AUD, and control groups. It may be that individuals with comorbid AUD-PTSD perceive that they have difficulty physiologically recovering from a stressor.unknownunknow

Examining Associations Between Distress Tolerance and Anxiety Sensitivity and Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) Using Multimodal Assessments

Trauma is common, and associated with PTSD and AUD, which co-occur. One explanation for this co-occurrence is that shared risk factors, such as anxiety sensitivity (AS), the cognitive appraisal of anxiety symptoms as harmful, and distress tolerance (DT), the perceived ability to withstand negative emotional states, may drive both conditions. The goal of this study was to test whether multimodal measures of AS (i.e., CO2 breathing task) and DT (i.e., computer-based tasks), are associated with PTSD and AUD symptoms and whether the AS measures in particular were associated with group membership (AUD-PTSD, AUD, PTSD, or trauma-exposed controls) in multivariate path models. Participants were recruited from a longitudinal study of college students and were eligible if they reported lifetime trauma and alcohol use, and if they lived in proximity of the lab. After completing an initial survey, participants who met criteria for one of the four groups included in the lab study (n=90), involving collection of subjective (e.g., self-report of psychophysiological symptoms) and physiological (i.e., heart rate, skin conductance) measures during the breathing task. Individuals with AUD-PTSD reported higher self-report ratings of psychophysiological symptoms during the recovery phase, compared to PTSD, AUD, and control groups. It may be that individuals with comorbid AUD-PTSD perceive that they have difficulty physiologically recovering from a stressor.Support was provided by NIH: P20AA017828, R37AA011408, K02AA018755, P50AA022537, K01AA024152, K01AA028058, and R34DA061267. Support also provided by National Center for Research Resources and National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research:UL1RR031990. Support also provided by the Center for the Study of Tobacco Products at VCU. REDCap support provided by CTSA award UM1TR004360 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.notReviewedothe