Indirect Associations of Anxiety Sensitivity with Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drug Use Problems Through Emotional Disorder Symptoms in Adolescents.

Theoretically, anxiety sensitivity-fear of anxiety symptoms-enhances perception of and emotional reactivity to autonomic arousal and mental distress, thereby increasing negative affect and motivation to use substances for negative reinforcement. Because no prior study of adolescents has tested if anxiety sensitivity is indirectly associated with substance use problems through symptoms of emotional disorders (i.e.