Examining the Contrast Avoidance Model to Understand the Association between Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Sleep Difficulties

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) features excessive worry, paired with physiological arousal that causes distress and interferes with daily activities. Individuals with GAD symptoms often experience persistent sleep problems, which may worsen clinical outcomes. The Contrast Avoidance Model (CAM; Newman & Llera, 2011) posits that worry is used in GAD to avoid emotional shifts by perpetuating a negative state. Research has demonstrated the CAM uniquely explains GAD pathology and may similarly explain co-occurring sleep difficulties. To better understand the high rates of sleep difficulties in GAD symptomology, this study examined the role of contrast avoidance in this relationship in a sample of individuals with anxiety symptoms. Greater contrast avoidance was expected to be positively correlated with sleep difficulties, and GAD severity was expected to be indirectly associated with sleep difficulties via greater engagement in contrast avoidance. A sample of 255 anxious adults was recruited online, and participants completed self-report measures of GAD severity, contrast avoidance, and sleep difficulties. Significant correlations were observed between study variables. The mediation model accounted for 28% of the variance in sleep difficulties and revealed a significant indirect effect of contrast avoidance in the association between GAD severity and sleep difficulties. These results indicate that contrast avoidance may be important when examining sleep difficulties among those with GAD symptoms.