Factor Structure of the Attentional Control Scale in Younger and Older Adults: Relationships with Anxiety and Depression

Sea-level rise and mental health among coastal communities: A quantitative survey and conditional process analysis

This is the first large-scale empirical study examining the impact of sea-level rise induced by climate change on mental health outcomes among coastal communities. The study focuses on Bangladesh, a country severely affected by salinity ingress, flood risks, and agricultural damage due to sea-level changes. Participants (n = 1,200) randomly selected from three coastal regions each having high, moderate, or low vulnerability to sea-level rise were surveyed during the pre-monsoon season in 2021. The cross-sectional survey included validated measures of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, stress, environmental stressors, resource loss, and demographics. The results indicated significantly higher levels of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and stress in residents of high-vulnerability areas compared to moderate or low-vulnerability regions. Resource loss served as a mediating variable between environmental stressors and mental health outcomes. Furthermore, demographic analyses showed that older adults and women reported higher levels of psychological distress. These findings align with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, highlighting urgent need for targeted mental health interventions and sustainable models of care in coastal areas increasingly threatened by sea-level rise.

Lessons unlearned: A conceptual review and meta-analysis of the relationship between the Attention Control Scale and Objective Attention Control

Attention control is central to many models of emotion. Among the most common measures of attention, control is the Attention Control Scale (ACS), which has exerted considerable influence in terms of the volume and breadth of research findings, with its use in cognitive-experimental research continuing to increase in recent years. However, there are growing concerns about whether the ACS genuinely indexes attention control. The present paper considers the context and development of the ACS, reviews and meta-analyses the available evidence regarding its association with objective measures of attention control. Meta-analytic results from nine studies (total n = 1274) indicated that the full-scale ACS was not significantly associated with behavioural measures of attentional control (r = .067, p = .093, N = 1274, 95% CI: -.011, .145). Findings indicated likely missing studies with lower correlations suggesting the true association may be smaller. Limited evidence of shared variance between subjective and objective measures of attention control contrasts with considerable evidence that the scale is closely correlated with dispositional traits (e.g. anxiety, agreeableness) that could plausibly influence responding. Thus, on the balance of current findings, we conclude that there is little compelling evidence that responding on the ACS reflects genuine attention control abilities.

Anxiety, Loneliness, Drug Craving, and Depression Among Substance Abusers in Sichuan Province, China

Studies have reported that anxiety had a positive effect on depression among substance abusers in males. However, little is known about the mechanism underlying this relationship in substance abusers in males. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of loneliness and drug craving between anxiety and depression in substance abusers in males. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, The UCLA Loneliness Scale, Drug Craving Scale, and The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale were employed into this study to investigate 585 substance abusers in males (age range of 20–58 years: M = 33.21, SD = 6.97). Structural equation modeling and the bootstrap approach were used to analyze the mediating effect of loneliness and drug craving on the relationship between anxiety and depression. The results indicated that: Loneliness had a significant positive correlation with anxiety (r = 0.37, p < 0.001) and depression (r = 0.49, p < 0.001); Drug craving had a significant positive correlation with anxiety (r = 0.28, p < 0.001) and depression (r = 0.39, p < 0.001). Loneliness and drug craving mediated the link between anxiety and depression. There was a significant positive correlation between substance abusers in male’s anxiety, loneliness, drug craving, and depression. Loneliness and drug craving had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between anxiety and depression. Therefore, it was suggested that substance abusers in male’s anxiety and depression might be improved and driven by decreasing loneliness and drug craving. Targeted interventions to decrease substance abusers in male’s loneliness and drug craving should be developed, implemented, and help them to recover.

Disentangling the effects of attentional difficulties on fears of social evaluation and social anxiety symptoms: Unique interactions with sluggish cognitive tempo

Although fears of negative and positive social evaluation are hallmark cognitive features of social anxiety, attentional difficulties may exacerbate the relation between fears of social evaluation and social anxiety. Thus, the goal of the current study was to test whether two different types of self-reported attentional difficulties, specifically sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) inattention symptoms, moderate the relation between fears of social evaluation and social anxiety. Participants (N = 4756; Mage = 19.28 years; 72.7% female) enrolled in five universities across the United States completed self-report measures of fears of negative and positive evaluation and psychopathology symptoms. Results indicated a significant two-way interaction of fear of negative evaluation and SCT in relation to social anxiety symptoms, as well as a significant two-way interaction of fear of positive evaluation and SCT in relation to social anxiety symptoms. In both instances, the associations between fears of negative and positive evaluation in relation to social anxiety became increasingly stronger at higher levels of SCT. Conversely, the interactions between fears of negative and positive evaluation with ADHD inattentive symptoms were non-significant. These results are the first to report that self-reported SCT, but not ADHD inattentive symptoms, exacerbate the relation between fears of social evaluation and social anxiety, and suggest that attentional difficulties characteristic of SCT may prolong engagement in fears.

Psychometric properties of the expanded version of the inventory of depression and anxiety symptoms (IDAS-II) in a sample of older adults

Objective: Given the strong relationship often found between self-report measures of anxiety and depression, the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS) was created and then expanded (IDAS-II) to assess common and unique symptom dimensions of these emotional disorders. Limited research has focused on the use of the IDAS-II with older adults and the purpose of the current study was to provide data on the reliability and validity of the IDAS-II in this population.Method: A sample of 323 participants (age 55-80 years) were recruited online using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). They completed the IDAS-II and several other self-report questionnaires of internalizing symptoms, including widely used measures developed specifically for older adults. Internal consistency and validity of the IDAS-II were examined.Results: The IDAS-II demonstrated marginal to excellent internal consistency (α = .68-.91). An exploratory factor analysis indicated three factors: Distress, Positive Mood, and Obsessions. The IDAS-II explained a large amount of variance in the other measures of depression and anxiety (ranging from 52% to 76%) and the IDAS-II Dysphoria scale significantly related to all of the other measures of depression and anxiety (ranging from r = .69 to r = .81).Conclusion: These results support the use of the IDAS-II with older adults as it has good convergent validity with other commonly used measures of depression and anxiety, including those commonly used in the assessment of older adults. Further research can use the IDAS-II with both younger and older adults to examine age-related changes in depression and anxiety symptoms.

The Complex Role of Mental Time Travel in Depressive and Anxiety Disorders: An Ensemble Perspective

The ensemble hypothesis proposes that uniquely human cognitive abilities depend on more than just language. Besides overt language, inner speech, and causal interpretations, executive attention, mental time travel, and theory of mind abilities are essential parts that combine additively and even multiplicatively. In this review, we consider the implications of the ensemble hypothesis for the psychopathologies of anxiety and depression. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are two of the most common mental disorders worldwide. The mechanisms that differentiate them are difficult to identify, however. Mental time travel has been implicated in models of depressive and anxiety disorders, but here we argue that at least two other ensemble components, namely, interpreter biases and executive attention, must also be considered. Depressive and anxiety disorders have both been found to show impairments in all three of these components, but the precise relationships seem to distinguish the two kinds of disorders. In reviewing the literature, we develop models for depression and anxiety that take into account an ensemble of mental components that are unique for each disorder. We specify how the relations among mental time travel, interpreter biases, and executive attentional control differ in depression and anxiety. We conclude by considering the implications of these models for treating and conceptualizing anxiety and depression.

Assessment of anxiety in older adults: psychometric properties and relationships with self-reported functional impairment

OBJECTIVE

The current study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of two geriatric anxiety measures: the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) and the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS). This study also aimed to determine the relationships of these measures with two measures of functional ability and impairment: the Barkley Functional Impairment Scale (BFIS) and the Everyday Cognition Scale (E-Cog).

DESIGN

Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were used to analyze the factor structures of the GAI and GAS in older adults. Tests for dependent correlations were used to examine the relationship between anxiety scales and functioning.

SETTING

Amazon's Mechanical Turk.

PARTICIPANTS

348 participants (aged 55-85, M= 62.75 (4.8), 66.5% female) with no history of psychosis or traumatic brain injury.

RESULTS

CFAs supported the previously demonstrated bifactor solution for the GAI. For the GAS, the previously demonstrated three-factor model demonstrated a good-to-excellent fit. Given the high correlation between the cognitive and affective factors (r =.89), a bifactor solution was also tested. The bifactor model of the GAS was found to be primarily unidimensional. Tests for dependent correlations revealed that the GAS demonstrated stronger relationships with measures of self-reported functional impairment than the GAI.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study provides further psychometric validation of the factor structure of two geriatric anxiety measures in an older adult sample. The results support previous work completed on the GAI and the GAS. The GAS was more strongly correlated with self-reported functional impairment than the GAI, which may reflect differences in content in the two measures.

One Step Ahead-Attention Control Capabilities at Baseline Are Associated With the Effectiveness of the Attention Training Technique

BACKGROUND

Attentional control has been observed to play an important role in affective disorders by impacting information processing, the ability to exert top-down control in response to distracting stimuli, and by affecting emotional regulation. Prior studies demonstrated an association between attentional control and response to psychotherapy, thereby identifying attentional control as an interesting prognostic pre-treatment factor. Improving attentional control and flexibility is a cornerstone in metacognitive therapy (MCT), which is trained by the use of the Attentional Training Technique (ATT). However, as of yet, it remains unclear if pre-treatment attentional control is related to the effect of ATT.

METHODS

An aggregated sample of 139 healthy participants [study 1: 85 participants, mean age 23.7 years, previously published (Barth et al., 2019); study 2: 54 participants, mean age 33.7 years, not previously published] performed an attentional performance test battery before and after applying ATT. Before ATT was administered, attentional control was measured using a well-established self-report instrument, i.e., the Attentional Control Scale (ACS; Derryberry and Reed, 2002). ATT was given in 2, 4, or 15 doses and compared to sham ATT. The test battery comprised a selection of established neurocognitive tasks: emotional dot probe, Stroop, 2-back, and dichotic listening.

RESULTS

Sham ATT showed no interaction with ACS score on performance outcome in all tests. At four doses of ATT, ACS score was associated with training response, i.e., subjects with high self-reported attentional control before training showed the largest improvements post-training (all P-values <0.05; see Figure 3). At 2 and 15 doses of ATT, the ACS score was unrelated to training response.

CONCLUSION

This is a first attempt in understanding the optimal dosage in which ATT should be administered dependent on the individual characteristics of each subject pre-training. The current data suggest self-reported attentional control pre-training as a marker to determine an optimal individual ATT training profile. Future studies should investigate if other domains of metacognitions also interact with training outcome and evaluate the extent to which this relationship transfers to clinical samples. If successful, assessing attentional control prior to treatment in clinical samples could be of use regarding personalized therapy plans and treatment outcome.