Inhibited personality traits, internalizing symptoms, and drinking to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic among emerging adults

Emerging adults with high levels of inhibited personality traits may be at-risk for drinking to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current research explored mediational pathways between two inhibited personality traits (anxiety sensitivity (AS) and hopelessness (HOP)), internalizing symptoms (an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognitive behaviour therapy 2023-05, Vol.52 (3), p.198-212
Main Authors: Lambe, Laura J., Yunus, Fakir Md, Moore, Mackenzie, Keough, Matthew T., Thompson, Kara, Krank, Marvin, Conrod, Patricia, Stewart, Sherry H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adolescent
Adult
Alcohol Drinking
Anxiety
Anxiety sensitivity
Canada
coping motives
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Cross-Sectional Studies
depression
emerging adults
Female
hopelessness
Humans
Male
Mental depression
Motivation
Pandemics
Personality
Personality traits
Young Adult
Young adults
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Summary:Emerging adults with high levels of inhibited personality traits may be at-risk for drinking to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current research explored mediational pathways between two inhibited personality traits (anxiety sensitivity (AS) and hopelessness (HOP)), internalizing symptoms (anxiety, depression, and COVID-19 distress), and coping drinking motives (drinking to cope with anxiety and drinking to cope with depression) during the pandemic. Cross-sectional data were collected from 879 undergraduate drinkers (79% female, 83% White, 18-25 years old) at five Canadian universities from January-April 2021. Participants self-reported on their personality, anxiety (GAD-7), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), COVID-19 distress, and coping drinking motives. Mediational path analyses provided evidence of both specific and non-specific pathways between personality and coping motives via internalizing symptoms. Depressive symptoms partially mediated the link between HOP and drinking to cope with depression motives. While anxiety symptoms did not significantly mediate links between AS and coping with anxiety motives in the full model, evidence of mediation was found in a post-hoc sensitivity analysis. COVID-19 distress served as a non-specific mediator. AS and HOP are critical transdiagnostic risk factors that increase vulnerability for internalizing psychopathology and, in turn, risky drinking motives, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ISSN:1650-6073
1651-2316
DOI:10.1080/16506073.2022.2152726