Negative Generalization and Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders

The tendency to generalize from a single failure to one's entire self-worth is an important correlate and predictor of depression. Despite conceptual overlap between cognitive biases in anxiety and depression, little research has examined whether negative generalization relates to anxiety symptoms. We examined associations of negative generalization with symptoms of several anxiety disorders, above and beyond its association with lifetime symptoms of depression, among 248 undergraduates. After controlling for lifetime symptoms of major depression, negative generalization was significantly correlated with symptoms of each anxiety disorder tested, most notably generalized anxiety and social phobia.