The Roles of Emotional Reactivity and Tolerance in Generalized, Social, and Health Anxiety: A Multimethod Exploration

Emotion regulation difficulties have been implicated in the maintenance of many anxiety disorders. However, existing research has relied mostly on self-report measures of emotion regulation or one type of mood induction. The present study examined the relationships between anxiety symptoms and emotional reactivity and tolerance using multiple assessment methodologies. Participants (N = 122) completed measures of generalized, social, and health anxiety symptoms and reported tolerance of and reactivity to negative emotions (sadness, fear, anger, disgust) elicited by 4 film clips. Participants also completed a mirror-tracing persistence task, a behavioral measure of distress tolerance. Social anxiety symptoms predicted unique variance in tolerance of film-elicited emotions, whereas generalized anxiety symptoms predicted unique variance in total peak reactivity to film-elicited emotions. Health anxiety was not related to tolerance or peak reactivity, but it was predictive of greater anxiety following the mirror-tracing task. The results of this study suggest heightened emotional reactivity is a salient feature of generalized anxiety symptoms, whereas emotional tolerance is more strongly related to social anxiety symptoms. The unique association between health anxiety and anxious response to the distress tolerance task represents a novel finding that warrants further investigation.

► Research implicates heightened emotional reactivity and poor emotional tolerance in anxiety disorders.
► Emotional reactivity and tolerance were assessed using emotional films and a behavioral distress tolerance task.
► Emotional reactivity was related to generalized anxiety symptoms and emotional tolerance was related to social anxiety.
► Symptoms of health anxiety were associated with anxious response to a frustrating task.