Deconstructing trait anxiety: a network perspective

For decades, the dominant paradigm in trait anxiety research has regarded the construct as signifying the underlying cause of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that supposedly reflect its presence. Recently, a network theory of personality has appeared. According to this perspective, trait anxiety is a formative construct emerging from interactions among its constitutive features (e.g., thought, feelings, behaviors); it is not a latent cause of these features.

In this study, we characterized trait anxiety as a network system of interacting elements.

To do so, we estimated a graphical gaussian model via the computation of a regularized partial correlation network in an unselected sample (N = 611). We also implemented modularity-based community detection analysis to test whether the features of trait anxiety cohere as a single network system.

We find that trait anxiety can indeed be conceptualized as a single, coherent network system of interacting elements.

This radically new approach to visualizing trait anxiety may offer an especially informative view of the interplay between its constitutive features. As prior research has implicated trait anxiety as a risk factor for the development of anxiety-related psychopathology, our findings also set the scene for novel research directions.