Incremental validity of perceived control dimensions in the differential prediction of interpretive biases for threat

This study evaluated whether a diminished perception of control over environmental and interoceptive events differentially predicted interpretive biases for threat for ambiguous scenarios. The sample had 95 participants without a history of psychopathology. Results indicated that the internal dimension of the Anxiety Control Questionnaire (ACQ; R. M. Rapee, M. G. Craske, T. A. Brown, & D. H. Barlow, 1996) was predictive of interpretive biases for internal scenarios above and beyond demographic variables, subclinical panic attack history, and state anxiety; the external control subscale of the ACQ also was predictive of internal rank-ordered responses. The ACQ external dimension was predictive of interpretive responses for external scenarios beyond the effects accounted for by the other predictor variables, including perceived control for internal events. These findings provide initial correlational evidence consistent with cognitive-behavioral accounts of panic disorder that posit a perceived lack of control over aversive events may exacerbate an interpretive bias for threat.