Examining content specificity of negative interpretation biases with the Body Sensations Interpretation Questionnaire (BSIQ)

Cognitive biases have been suggested to act as latent vulnerability factors for the onset and maintenance of affective and emotional disorders. Additionally, several global and specific personality constructs are known to influence the course of psychopathology (e.g., trait anxiety, optimism, anxiety sensitivity (AS), injury/illness sensitivity (IS), fear of negative evaluation (FNE)). The current study examined the specificity of the relation between these constructs and a negative interpretation bias. One hundred and fifty-four healthy participants completed the Body Sensations Interpretation Questionnaire (BSIQ) [Clark, D. A., Salkovskis, P. M., Breitholtz, E., Westling, B. E., Öst, L.-G., Koehler, K. A., et al. (1997). Misinterpretation of body sensations in panic disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 203–213], measuring negative interpretations on four domains. A confirmatory factor analysis offered support for four factors in the BSIQ. Multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that optimism is predictive of less negative interpretations. AS, IS, and FNE are specifically predictive of negative interpretations on the panic, other bodily symptoms, and social situations subscale, respectively. In addition, specific pain-related constructs were found most predictive of the other bodily sensations subscale. It is concluded that individual variability in global and specific psychological constructs is associated with a content-specific negative interpretation bias.