(PS6-B26) Anxiety Sensitivity as a Predictor of Exercise and Weight Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with unhealthy changes in both eating and exercise behavior (Ammar et al., 2020; Robinson et al., 2021; Sidor & Rzymski, 2020). However, these effects were not universal across the adult population necessitating further exploration of risk factors for these health behavior changes. Anxiety sensitivity (AS), the fear of behaviors and sensations associated with anxiety, represents a useful target as it has been frequently associated with maladaptive coping including both overeating (Hearon et al., 2013) and exercise avoidance (Hearon et al., 2014; Hearon & Harrison, 2021; Moshier et al., 2016). Indeed, AS has already been associated with pandemic-related distress and anxiety (Ojalehto et al., 2021; Schmidt et al., 2021), yet no studies, to our knowledge, have investigated its direct effects on health behavior changes during the pandemic. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the role of AS in predicting changes in exercise behavior and weight. A total of 196 adult participants completed a battery of assessments including the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3; Taylor et al, 2007), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ; Craig et al., 2003), and questions related to changes in duration, frequency, and intensity of exercise as well as weight during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. To determine overall changes in exercise, a continuous composite score encompassing changes in frequency, duration, and intensity of workouts was computed. Given the high number of participants reporting at least some weight gain, changes in weight were coded dichotomously into the categories of lost/stable and gained. Results revealed that although higher ASI scores significantly predicted a lack of exercise over the week prior to study participation (OR = .97; CI = .95 -.99; p= .02) as expected, AS was positively related to perceived exercise increases over the first year of the pandemic (b= .15, t= 6.92, p< .01). This suggests that individuals with higher AS may engage in less exercise than individuals not elevated on this construct but did show relative increases in this behavior during the pandemic. However, higher AS was also associated with reports of weight gain (OR = 1.06; CI = 1.03 – 1.08;p< .01) such that for every point increase on the ASI, a participant was 1.06 times more likely to fall into the weight gain category. Taken together, these results suggest that although higher AS individuals may have increased their exercise during the pandemic, this increase did not bring them in line with the exercise rates of individuals without high AS, and since exercise for high AS individuals increased, it is likely unhealthy changes in eating behavior that drove the greater reports of weight gain among this group. Anxiety sensitivity should be considered as a transdiagnostic risk factor for maladaptive changes in eating behavior during times of prolonged stress such as the COVID-19 pandemic.