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. 2021 Dec;58(6):817-827.
doi: 10.1177/1363461520946557. Epub 2020 Sep 15.

Anxiety sensitivity and acculturative stress: Concurrent relations to mental health among Spanish-speaking Latinx in primary care

Michael J Zvolensky  1   2 , Jafar Bakhshaie  1 , Justin M Shepherd  1 , Natalia Peraza  1 , Andres G Viana  1 , Rheeda L Walker  1 , Monica Garza  3 , Melissa Ochoa-Perez  3 , Chad Lemaire  3
Affiliations

Anxiety sensitivity and acculturative stress: Concurrent relations to mental health among Spanish-speaking Latinx in primary care

Michael J Zvolensky et al. Transcult Psychiatry. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

The Latinx population suffers from mental health inequalities. Although past work has implicated acculturative stress and anxiety sensitivity as important individual difference factors for anxiety and depression in this group, it is presently unclear how they work together to influence more severe anxiety and depressive symptom expression among Latinx. To help address this gap in the existing literature, the current study evaluated the role of concurrent anxiety sensitivity and acculturative stress, in terms of anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders, in a Latinx population in a primary care setting. Participants included 142 Latinx individuals (86.7% female; Mage = 39.66, SD = 11.34). After accounting for shared variance, the results indicated that both anxiety sensitivity and acculturative stress were significantly associated with anxious arousal symptoms, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms. However, anxiety sensitivity, but not acculturative stress, was significantly related to a number of mood and anxiety disorders. These findings suggest the importance of assessing both anxiety sensitivity and acculturative stress in routine mental health screening, as both factors may be related to poorer psychological health among this group.

Keywords: Latinx; acculturative stress; anxiety; anxiety sensitivity; depression; primary care.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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