Interoceptive accuracy and body awareness – Temporal and longitudinal associations in a non-clinical sample.

Objective Various aspects of interoception are regarded as temporally stable phenomena. This study investigates the temporal stability of and longitudinal associations between interoceptive accuracy (as measured with heartbeat tracking task) and a related concept, body awareness (assessed by self-report). Methods In a two-month longitudinal study 103 university students (31% male, 23.34 ± 4.34 yrs.; 44 Hungarians; 36.4% male, 21.4 ± 1.67 yrs. and 59 Norwegians; 25.4% male, 24.8 ± 5.09 yrs) were investigated using Schandry's heartbeat tracking task and the Body Awareness Questionnaire. Results Both interoceptive accuracy and body awareness showed good test-retest reliability (r = 0.60 and r = 0.73, respectively; p < 0.001 in both cases). The two concepts were independent of each other at baseline (r = 0.06, p = 0.587), and did not predict each other over an eight weeks period of time. Conclusion Self-reported body awareness and objectively measured interoceptive accuracy are temporally stable and not related to each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]