Citation

Williams J, Peeters F, Zautra A. Anxiety Stress Coping 2004; 17(4): 321-330.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10615800412331318634

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A dynamic model of affect suggests that positive and negative affect (PA and NA) are normally relatively independent of one another, whereas the heightened apprehensiveness and narrowed cognitive attention in persons with anxiety may contribute to a more unidimensional affect structure. This possibility was examined in a sample of 230 patients seeking treatment for anxiety and depressive disorders in the Netherlands. Two methods, a multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Fisher's z test of correlations, were used to test these predicted relationships within a sample of persons diagnosed with either a depressive or an anxiety disorder. Both methods supported these predictions, with the depressed group exhibiting relatively independent PA and NA while the anxious group's affects were more strongly inversely correlated.