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The Hispanic population is the largest minority group in the United States and frequently experiences racial discrimination and mental health difficulties. Prior work suggests that perceived racial discrimination is a significant risk factor for poorer mental health among Hispanic in the United States. However, little work has investigated how perceived racial discrimination relates to anxiety and depression among Hispanic adults. Thus, the current study evaluated the explanatory role of experiential avoidance in the relation between perceived racial discrimination and anxiety/depressive symptoms and disorders among Hispanic adults in primary care. Participants included 202 Spanish-speaking adults ( M age  = 38.99, SD  = 12.43, 86.1% female) attending a community-based Federally Qualified Health Center. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that perceived racial discrimination had a significant indirect effect on depression, social anxiety, and anxious arousal symptoms as well as the number of mood and anxiety disorders through experiential avoidance. These findings suggest future work should continue to explore experiential avoidance in the association between perceived racial discrimination and other psychiatric and medical problems among the Hispanic population.

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 ² = .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 (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).R ² = .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 (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study examined the role of anxiety sensitivity in the relation between acculturative stress and mood and anxiety symptoms and disorders among Latinos seeking health services at a primary healthcare facility. Participants included 142 adult Latinos (86.6% female, M age = 39.05 years, SD = 12.46%, and 96.3% reported Spanish as their first language). Results indicated that acculturative stress was indirectly related to the number of mood and anxiety disorders, anxious arousal, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms through anxiety sensitivity. The observed effects were evident above and beyond the variance accounted for by gender, age, marital status, educational status, employment status, years living in the United States, and negative affectivity. Overall, the present findings suggest that there is merit in focusing further scientific attention on the interplay between acculturative stress and anxiety sensitivity to better understand and inform interventions to reduce anxiety/depressive vulnerability among Latinos in primary care., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Latinx persons are exposed to higher rates of traumatic events and conditional risks for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and comorbid mental health symptoms compared to other minority groups. The study evaluated PTSD symptom severity for global and specific cluster severity relating to co-occurring anxiety, social anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation among 326 Latinx adults who endorsed trauma exposure. Results indicated that global PTSD symptom severity was significantly related to greater social anxiety, anxious arousal, depression, and suicidal ideation symptoms. PTSD arousal and reactivity symptom cluster had the strongest relation to anxious arousal, social anxiety, and depression, whereas negative alterations in cognitions and mood symptoms had the strongest association with social anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. The findings suggest that global PTSD symptom severity, alongside arousal and reactivity and negative alterations in cognitions and mood, are related to a range of concurrent negative mental health symptoms among trauma exposed Latinx young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mental and behavioral health burden resulting from COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the Latinx population. Yet, no work has investigated the influence of resilience as a protective factor against COVID-19 related consequences. The aim of the current study was to evaluate resilience in relation to COVID-19 related fear, anxiety symptoms, COVID-19 anxiety-related sleep disturbances, and depression among Latinx persons (178 Latinx persons [31.5% female, Mage = 34.1 years, SD = 8.2]). It was hypothesized that greater levels of resilience would be associated with lower levels of all COVID-19 related behavioral health outcomes above and beyond the variance accounted for by years living in the United States (U.S.), degree of COVID-19 exposure, sex, age, education, and COVID-19 related work and financial troubles and home-life distress. Results indicated that greater levels of resilience were associated with lower levels of COVID-19 related fear (ΔR2 =.06, p <.001), anxiety symptoms (ΔR2 =.03, p =.005), COVID-19 anxiety-related sleep disturbances (ΔR2 =.06, p <.001), and depression (ΔR2 =.04, p =.001). Overall, the present study is the first to document the potential importance of resilience in relation to common and clinically significant COVID-19 behavioral health problems among Latinx persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatigue sensitivity, or the misattribution that fatigue symptoms will lead to negative personal consequences, is one individual difference factor related to adverse behavioral health consequences. The current study investigated whether fatigue sensitivity was related to panic symptoms, depression, as well as fatigue severity among 166 persons of diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds with severe fatigue. As hypothesized, fatigue sensitivity was statistically significantly related to greater panic symptoms, general depression, and fatigue severity. These results were evident over the variance explained by age, sex, neuroticism, and somatic symptoms. This work is the first to evaluate fatigue sensitivity in terms of behavioral health outcomes among a racial/ethnically diverse sample with severe fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Pain affects a significant proportion of college students in the United States and has been linked to anxiety and depressive symptoms. Rumination and worry, two transdiagnostic factors linked to comorbidity, may explain the relationship between pain and mental health symptoms. Current Study: The current study examined worry and rumination as explanatory factors in the relationship between pain and anxiety and depressive symptoms in a sample of college students with pain (n = 1,577; 79.9% female). Results: Results indicated that both rumination and worry explained the relationship between pain and depressive and social anxiety symptoms, while rumination alone explained the relationship between pain and anxious arousal symptoms. Conclusion: The current study provides novel empirical evidence that worry and rumination each help explain the relationship between pain and anxiety and depressive symptoms among college students with current pain, and college students in pain may benefit from targeted psychosocial strategies aimed at decreasing worry and ruminative responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has risen dramatically in the United States. Research on combustible cigarette use has indicated that mental health symptoms and disorders are among the most important factors related to the maintenance and relapse of use. There is emerging research that suggests mental health symptoms, such as anxiety and negative affect, are overrepresented among e-cigarette users and that these factors are related to more frequent use of e-cigarettes. Yet, little is known about individual difference factors that may be associated with some of the most common mental health symptoms among e-cigarette users. Objective: Clinically significant fatigue may be one individual difference factor related to greater anxiety and distress and dysregulated emotional states more generally among e-cigarette users. Unfortunately, past work has yet to explore this relation. Method: Thus, the current study sought to evaluate clinically significant fatigue severity and its relation to negative affect, anxious arousal, and emotion dysregulation among 525 adult e-cigarette smokers (50.9% female, Mage = 35.25 years, SD = 10.10). Results: Results indicated that severe fatigue was significantly related to negative affect (p < 0.001), anxious arousal (p < 0.001), and emotion dysregulation (p < 0.001); effects that were evident after adjusting for a range of other factors (e.g. combustible cigarette use). Conclusions: These novel empirical results highlight the severity of fatigue as a potentially important construct in efforts to better understand common mental health problems among e-cigarette users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinos face striking physical and mental health disparities. One factor associated with such disparities is subjective social status, reflecting subjective ratings of social standing. Yet there is presently a lack of empirical information about the mechanisms underlying relations between subjective social status and anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders among Latinos in community medical services that serve as focal catchment areas for assessment and intervention programming. The present investigation examined the unique explanatory roles of 2 transdiagnostic factors, rumination and anxiety sensitivity, in the relation between subjective social status and depressive, suicidal, social anxiety, and anxious arousal symptoms as well as anxiety/depressive disorders, among Latinos seeking health services at a primary health care facility. Participants included 253 Latino adults with annual incomes of less than $30,000 (M age = 39.1, SD = 11.1). Results indicated that rumination and anxiety sensitivity each significantly (independently) mediated associations between subjective social status and all dependent variables except suicidal symptoms. For suicidal symptoms, only rumination was a mediator. The present findings suggest that rumination and anxiety sensitivity may represent mechanisms for associations between subjective social status and anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders among economically disadvantaged Latinos in primary care settings. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]