Anxiety, worry, and difficulty concentrating: A longitudinal examination of concurrent and prospective symptom relationships

dc.contributor.authorBlendermann, Maryen
dc.contributor.authorBreaux, Rosannaen
dc.contributor.authorFried, Eiko I.en
dc.contributor.authorNaragon-Gainey, Kristinen
dc.contributor.authorStarr, Lisa R.en
dc.contributor.authorStewart, Jeremyen
dc.contributor.authorTeachman, Bethany A.en
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-07T18:26:07Zen
dc.date.available2025-02-07T18:26:07Zen
dc.date.issued2025-01en
dc.description.abstractDifficulty concentrating is an understudied cognitive phenomenon, despite its status as a diagnostic criterion for generalized anxiety disorder and contributor to clinically significant distress and impairment. Worry may constitute a cognitive mechanism by which anxiety leads to difficulty concentrating. The present study examined concurrent and prospective associations between self-reported anxiety, worry, and subjective difficulty concentrating across three timepoints (T1 April/May, T2 July/August, T3 October/November 2020) in 198 adults (M age = 37.94, SD = 13.42; 81% women, 2% gender minority) drawn from a larger study of trajectories of psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic. In multilevel models, anxiety was associated with worry both between (β = 0.65, SE = 0.13) and within participants (β = 0.12, SE = 0.11). Difficulty concentrating was also associated with worry between (β = 0.38, SE = 0.03) and within participants (β = 0.09, SE = 0.02). In a structural equation model, worry partially mediated the longitudinal association between anxiety and difficulty concentrating, though this effect was nonsignificant after controlling for difficulty concentrating at T2 and worry, depression, sleep disturbance, and difficulty concentrating at T1. The unadjusted mediation and these other findings are in line with theoretical accounts of worry as a cognitive mechanism linking anxiety to subjective attentional problems.en
dc.description.versionAccepted versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2025.01.004en
dc.identifier.issn0005-7894en
dc.identifier.orcidBreaux, Rosanna [0000-0001-5500-6950]en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/124532en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevieren
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectanxietyen
dc.subjectworryen
dc.subjectattentionen
dc.subjectcognitive controlen
dc.subjectlongitudinal studiesen
dc.titleAnxiety, worry, and difficulty concentrating: A longitudinal examination of concurrent and prospective symptom relationshipsen
dc.title.serialBehavior Therapyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Techen
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Tech/Scienceen
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Tech/Science/Psychologyen
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Tech/All T&R Facultyen
pubs.organisational-groupVirginia Tech/Science/COS T&R Facultyen

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