Cognitive vulnerability to comorbidity: Looming cognitive style and depressive cognitive style as synergistic predictors of anxiety and depression symptoms

Looming Cognitive Style, which was proposed as cognitive vulnerability model specific for anxiety disorders, suggests that anxiety-prone individuals have a tendency to perceive threats and dangers as getting closer, becoming larger, and more agonizing every passing minute. Yet, very few studies focused on the family-related variables that are associated with development of Looming Cognitive Style. This study aims to investigate the relationship of Looming Cognitive Style with measures perceived parenting and attachment. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 389 university students aged between 18 and 35 as participants. The participants were assessed through Looming Cognitive Style, perceived parenting, attachment anxiety, and avoidance. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated Looming Cognitive Style to be significantly predicted by maternal overprotection and anxiety dimension of attachment. The results are important in understanding how parenting-related variables are related to development of cognitive vulnerabilities specific to anxiety disorders.

Download Full-text

Looming cognitive style and quality of life in a cancer cohort

Palliative & Supportive Care ◽

10.1017/s1478951510000325 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 449-454

Author(s):

Tomer T. Levin ◽

John Riskind ◽

Yuelin Li

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Cognitive Style ◽

Mental Component Score ◽

Physical Component Score ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Depression And Anxiety ◽

Component Score ◽

Sf 36 ◽

Looming Cognitive Style

AbstractObjective:Looming cognitive styles (LCS) bias the velocity of potential threats and have been implicated in anxiety and depression vulnerability. This study aims to explore their contribution to impaired quality of life (QOL), beyond that of depression and anxiety, in a cancer cohort.Method:In a cross-sectional design, an ambulatory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cohort completed a psychological battery that included the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories, the SF-36 Health Survey, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACT), the Looming Cognitive Style Questionnaire (LCSQ), and the Looming Cancer measure.Results:The Looming Cancer measure correlated significtly with overall QOL (FACT-G, p = 0.005). This effect was largely due to the contribution of emotional QOL (Mental Component Score: SF-36, p = 0.001; FACT-emotional, p = 0.001) and functional QOL (FACT-functional, p = 0.001). Looming, unlike anxiety and depression, did not correlate with a worse physical QOL (Physical Component Score: SF-36, FACT-physical). Looming did not impact on social QOL. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that looming predicted 5.4% of the varience on the FACT-emotional, 5.1% on the Mental Component Score (SF-36), and 9.3% on the mental health subscale (SF-36), above and beyond the varience predicted by a constellation of psychosocial factors (including age, marital status, education, income) and the combined effect of depression and anxietySignificance of results:LCS predicts worse emotional and functional QOL, above and beyond the contribution of anxiety, depression, and other psycho-social variables. This suggests that it makes a unique contribution to a worse QOL. Nevertheless, the looming construct still remains primarily a research tool in psycho-oncology at this time.

Download Full-text