Diurnal variation in anxiety and activity is influenced by chronotype and probable anxiety-related disorder status.

Anxiety symptoms vary moment-to-moment within a day. One factor that may influence these variations is chronotype. Evening chronotypes prefer to engage in activities (e.g., sleep, physical and social activity) later in the day, and evening chronotype is implicated in psychopathology, including anxiety-related disorders. However, it is unknown whether chronotype influences diurnal variation in anxiety symptoms and whether these effects are amplified in individuals with a probable anxiety-related disorder. We examined the diurnal variation in anxiety symptoms and daily activities in morning and evening chronotypes with and without probable generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in a community sample of adults (N = 410). Evening chronotypes reported higher anxiety symptoms, particularly in the evening hours, and lower engagement in daily activities, predominantly in the morning hours. Evening chronotypes with probable GAD or OCD reported worse anxiety symptoms in the evening. Our findings indicate that anxiety symptoms and engagement in daily activities fluctuate considerably across the day, and these patterns differ depending on chronotype. Evening chronotypes have more anxiety symptoms in the evening, despite preferring this time of day. Personalized treatment approaches that consider chronotype and target certain times of day may be efficient in alleviating peaks in anxiety symptoms.

Unique and interactive effects of emotion regulation difficulties and perceived stress on COVID-19 traumatic stress, anxiety, and safety behavior use: A four-year prospective study.

Given that emotion regulation difficulties confer risk for poor responses to stress, they may predict who is at risk for adverse psychological reactions to major, chronic stressors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Specific adverse reactions to the pandemic may include more severe traumatic stress, anxiety, and excessive safety behavior use (i.e., hand washing). While emotion regulation difficulties may be a diathesis for adverse reactions to chronic stressors, the context(s) by which they may confer elevated risk is unclear. Accordingly, the present longitudinal study examined the interaction between pre-pandemic emotion regulation difficulties and early pandemic perceived stress in predicting subsequent COVID-related traumatic stress, anxiety, and safety behavior use over 32 weeks of the pandemic. Community adults (N = 145) who completed a measure of emotion regulation in 2016 as part of a larger study were recontacted at the start of the pandemic (March 2020) and assessed every two weeks for 32 weeks. Consistent with a diathesis-stress model, the interaction between difficulties in emotion regulation and perceived stress was significant in predicting COVID-19 anxiety (p = 0.003, d = 0.52) such that at high, but not low, levels of perceived stress, difficulties in emotion regulation in 2016 significantly predicted higher COVID-19 anxiety in 2020. The interaction between difficulties in emotion regulation in 2016 and perceived stress early in 2020 approached significance in predicting COVID-19 traumatic stress (p = 0.073, d = 0.31) and safety behavior use (p = 0.069, d = 0.31). These findings highlight that current perceived stress is an important context that potentiates the effects of preexisting emotion regulation difficulties on the emergence of anxiety-related symptoms during COVID-19, which has important implications for diathesis-stress models of adverse reactions to chronic stressors.