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Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive anxiety and worry about a variety of life issues. Despite the fact that GAD has high prevalence rates and often presents with additional comorbid complaints and disorders, less research has been conducted on the underlying cognitive and regulatory processes of GAD compared to other mental disorders, and its underlying mechanisms are still unclear. One prominent theory of GAD is the cognitive avoidance model of GAD proposed by Borkovec and colleagues (2004), which proposes that worry is a cognitive form of avoidance of images related to the worry topics. Worry is maintained because it allows for suppression and avoidance of the experience of a full-blown fear response. An implication of this theory is that individuals with GAD should necessarily report experiencing fewer physiological hyperarousal (PH) symptoms as they successfully avoid their feared response, and a significant body of research has supported this. Nevertheless, some debate exists in the field about the level of association between worry and PH and there are also studies that have not found this relationship to be significant. Based on this latter body of research, Newman and Llera (2011) propose the contrast avoidance model of GAD and suggest that worry is not in the service of completely avoiding PH but that worry is utilized in the service of avoiding the experience of the contrast between positive or euthymic “worry-free” states of emotion and a negative state of emotion. Previous research conducted in our lab suggests that the strength of the relationship between worry and PH is moderated by effortful control (EC), which represents the capacity to override one’s automatic tendencies and substitute an adaptive alternative response. The current study investigated the idea that the discrepancies that exist in the literature on the association between worry and PH can be attributed to EC. An additional primary purpose of the current study was to characterize worriers low and high on levels of EC on several variables that have been associated with worry. A sample of 123 individuals in Psychology 1100 at The Ohio State University completed an in-lab performance task, a clinical interview and measures that assessed worry, EC, PH, tolerance of uncertainty, meta-cognitions about worry, experiential avoidance, and OCPD personality dimensions. Results indicated that EC moderated the association between worry and PH symptoms. With several noteworthy exceptions, EC had little if any impact on most correlates of pathological worry. However, findings suggested that the impact of worry on broader aspects of adaptive functioning may vary in important ways at lower versus higher levels of EC. For example, whereas higher levels of EC predicted reduced impact of worry on general functioning, they predicted stronger associations between worry and OCPD personality traits. While EC is protective of heightened PH and depressive symptoms, worriers with higher EC do pay a price for their worries in the long run, as they are cold, aloof, and detached in relationships and approach the world in a rigid and inflexible manner. An integrative model of GAD is proposed. While the cognitive avoidance model of GAD may best characterize worriers high in EC, those lower on EC may fit better under the depiction of GAD in Newman and Llera’s contrast avoidance model. Treatment implications are discussed.

Social isolation and exclusion can be detrimental to the individual both psychologically and physically, and it is natural that human beings fear rejection. Rejection Sensitivity (RS) has been conceptualized as the extent to which individuals anxiously expect to be rejected by others in important relationships. High RS has been found to correlate with the presence of interpersonal difficulties. High-RS individuals are likely to perceive rejection in ambiguous behaviors of others and become reactive in response, leading to unstable relationships. Effortful Control (EC), which includes Attentional, Inhibitory, and Activation Control, represents the capacity to override one’s automatic tendencies and substitute an adaptive alternative response (Rothbart, 2007). Studies have found that high self-regulatory capacities, such as EC may be protective against the development of psychopathology and interpersonal problems in the case of individuals with high RS. For example, in a cross-sectional study, Ayduk and colleagues (2008) found that RS correlated with BPD symptoms most strongly at low levels of Attentional Control.The aims of the current study were to replicate and extend these findings in several ways. First, the current study was a prospective one assessing whether EC moderates the relationship between RS and change in BPD symptoms over time. Second, the current study investigated whether the interaction of RS by EC predicted specificiiifacets of BPD and explored the role of self-reported social support in the relationship between RS and BPD features. Furthermore, a measure of the broader construct of EC was included when assessing self-regulation, evaluating the three facets of EC—Attentional, Activation and Inhibitory Control. Finally, the study investigated whether the RS by EC interaction was predictive of social anxiety and loneliness. A sample of 298 individuals in Psychology 100 at The Ohio State University completed online questionnaires during three time points over the course of 8 weeks assessing RS, EC, BPD symptoms, social support, social anxiety, and loneliness. Linear regression analyses were carried out. The present study successfully replicated the findings by Ayduk et al (2008), although prospectively, the interaction between RS and Attentional Control did not predict a change in BPD symptoms. RS did show a main effect and predicted change in BPD symptoms, and this relationship was mediated by self-reported social support. Of the facets of BPD, impulsivity was the only facet that was significantly accounted for by the RS by EC interaction. Additionally, of the facets of EC only Inhibitory and Attentional Control interacted with RS to account for BPD symptoms. Lastly, the interaction of RS and EC did not predict symptoms of social anxiety or loneliness in this study, but RS and EC both showed main effects in predicting increases in loneliness over time, effects that were mediated by self-reported social support. Psychological interventions might benefit from identifying individuals with high RS and teaching them self-regulatory skills, as well as helping them learn to perceive social support where it is present, appreciate it, and utilize it.