ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives

Safety behaviors display some similarities to coping behaviors, raising questions about whether the two sets of behaviors display distinct associations with anxiety symptoms.

Design and Method

To examine this issue, we conducted two cross-sectional studies in which participants (n = 243 and 157) completed measures of the safety behaviors associated with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), the Brief Ways of Coping Scale (BWOC), and SAD and GAD symptom measures. In Study 1, extant safety-behavior and coping measures were used. In Study 2, the measures were modified so that they followed the same format and instructions.

Results

Both studies indicated that the safety behavior measures displayed strong positive associations with their respective symptoms, as did several dysfunctional coping strategies, most notably wishful thinking.

Conclusions

These findings provide preliminary empirical support for the conceptual distinction between safety behaviors and coping, and suggest that assessing both concepts provide a nuanced understanding of responding to anxiety-evoking situations.

Highlights• Safety-seeking strategies and coping behaviors have striking similarities• We conducted two studies to compare extant measures of the two constructs• Participants were able to distinguish the two set of behaviors• Both safety behaviors and dysfunctional coping were associated with anxiety symptoms

中文翻译：

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应对行为与寻求安全行为的比较

摘要

背景和目标

安全行为与应对行为有一些相似之处，这引发了关于这两组行为是否与焦虑症状有明显关联的问题。

设计与方法

为了研究这个问题，我们进行了两项横断面研究，参与者（n  = 243 和 157）完成了与社交焦虑症 (SAD) 和广泛性焦虑症 (GAD) 相关的安全行为的测量，即应对方式的简要方法量表(BWOC)，以及 SAD 和 GAD 症状测量。在研究 1 中，使用了现存的安全行为和应对措施。在研究 2 中，对测量进行了修改，使其遵循相同的格式和说明。

结果

两项研究都表明，安全行为措施与其各自的症状表现出强烈的正相关，一些功能失调的应对策略也是如此，最明显的是一厢情愿的想法。

结论

这些发现为安全行为和应对之间的概念区别提供了初步的实证支持，并表明评估这两个概念提供了对应对引起焦虑的情况的细微差别的理解。

亮点• 寻求安全的策略和应对行为有惊人的相似之处• 我们进行了两项研究来比较两种构念的现有措施• 参与者能够区分这两组行为• 安全行为和功能失调的应对都与焦虑症状有关