Abstract
Background: Elevated defensive responding, through startle reflex (SR) and skin conductance response (SCR), may contribute to onset and maintenance of depression and anxiety. Most work examining SR and SCR has predicted psychiatric diagnoses. There is a paucity of research examining links between SR or SCR and dimensional measures of psychopathology. Methods: We used latent growth curve modeling to predict longitudinal change in three symptom factors (i.e., General Distress, Fears, Anhedonia-Apprehension) from SR and SCR measured during a fear-potentiated startle paradigm among adolescents oversampled for neuroticism (N = 129). Results: Elevated SCR in danger phases before and after an unpleasant muscle contraction predicted increasing Fears over time. Elevated SR in safe phases post-contraction also predicted increasing Fears over time. Attenuated SR in safe phases post-contraction predicted elevated General Distress longitudinally. Attenuated SCR pre-contraction in danger phases predicted elevated Anhedonia-Apprehension over time. Limitations: Our non-clinical sample may limit generalizability of results. Additionally, we did not assess change in SR and SCR over time. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that SR and SCR during a fear-potentiated startle paradigm predict longitudinal change in dimensional anxiety and depression symptom factors and relatedly, that SR and SCR may represent risk factors for the exacerbation of symptomatology.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 399-406 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Affective Disorders |
| Volume | 311 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 15 2022 |
Funding
This research was supported by a two-site grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to M.G.C. ( R01-MH065651 ), S.M. and R.E.Z. ( R01-MH065652 ), and the writing of this manuscript by the NIMH T32 Pre-Doctoral Training Grant and Pritzker Graduate Scholar Award (J.S.Y.), and the Office of Academic Affiliations, Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment, Department of Veterans Affairs (M.V.). The aforementioned funders had no involvement in preparation of this manuscript. The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. However, the authors have funding sources to report. This research was supported by a two-site grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to M.G.C. (R01-MH065651), S.M. and R.E.Z. (R01-MH065652), and the writing of this manuscript by the NIMH T32 Pre-Doctoral Training Grant and Pritzker Graduate Scholar Award (J.S.Y.), and the Office of Academic Affiliations, Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment, Department of Veterans Affairs (M.V.).
Keywords
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Dimensional
- Fear arousal
- Fear-potentiated startle
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Clinical Psychology
