Deconstructing trait anxiety: a network perspective.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: 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. DESIGN: In this study, we characterized trait anxiety as a network system of interacting elements. METHO... Mehr ...