Coping with Anxiety Sensitivity during Adolescence

Abstract: The relation between Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) and certain anxiety disorders such as Panic Disorder and the panic response itself are well established by theory and research. Adolescence is understood to be a risk period for the development of Anxiety disorders. Certain styles of coping such as avoidance has beensuggested to be risk factors as well. In this study, the relation between AS and coping is explored using self-report measures (CASI-R and A-COPE), aiming to see if adolescents with high or low AS have an association with certain coping styles, understood by theory also to be potential risk factors. No reliable association were found between groups with high or low AS and any coping style. AS and total extent of coping did not correlate. A small and negative, significant correlation was found between age and AS.