The Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire: Measurement invariance and relations to anxiety and depression across 10 countries.

The Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire (LMSQ) is a self-report measure designed to assess the looming cognitive style, a tendency to interpret threats as rapidly approaching and increasing in magnitude. To date, no systematic evaluation on the psychometric properties of the LMSQ across diverse cultural contexts has been done. In the present research, the measurement invariance of the LMSQ test scores was examined in 10 countries (N=4000). Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that a two-factor model (i.e., physical looming and social looming) fitted the data well across countries. Partial measurement invariance was established for the LMSQ scores across the countries whereas full measurement invariance was achieved across gender. Meta-analytic structural equation modeling was applied to examine the unique contributions of the two looming factors to anxiety and depression symptoms. Results indicated that the test scores underlying two looming factors were crucial and valid predictors of symptoms. The LMSQ shows promise as a measure with cross-cultural generalizability and opens new avenues for its use in diverse cultural settings.

The role of emotional maltreatment and looming cognitive style in the development of social anxiety symptoms in late adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Social looming constitutes a specific cognitive vulnerability that acts as a danger schema and biases the processing of threat-related information associated with the development of social anxiety disorder. This model characterizes early negative experiences as critical to the formation of looming cognitive style. Furthermore, research has found links between parental emotional abuse and peer victimization and social anxiety. DESIGN: A three-wave longitudinal design was used to analyze the role of parents' emotional abuse and peer victimization in the onset of social anxiety symptoms through the development of this cognitive style. METHODS: The final sample was made up of 307 females and 243 males (Mage = 16.97, SDage = .81). Perceived parents' emotional abuse and peer victimization by participants were measured at Time 1, social looming was measured at Time 1 and 2, and social anxiety symptoms were measured at Times 1, 2, and 3. RESULTS: Parents' emotional abuse and peer victimization were related to social anxiety cross-sectionally. Longitudinally, social looming acted as a mediator in the relationship between parents' emotional abuse and social anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms through which emotional abuse and peer victimization impact social looming and contribute to social anxiety.

Test of an hypothesized structural model of the relationships between cognitive style and social anxiety: a 12-month prospective study.

The aim of this study was to test whether social looming cognitive style accounts for the predictive association between early maladaptive schema domains and social anxiety. We predicted that early maladaptive schema domains would predict the increase of social anxiety over time and that social looming would act as a mediator between schema domains and social anxiety. A three-wave longitudinal design was used. The participants (N=471, 56.95% women) were Spanish adolescents and young adults aged between 16 and 25 years old (Mage=17.81, SD age=3.19). The results showed that three schema domains (impaired autonomy and performance, impaired limits, and other-directedness) predicted the increase in social anxiety and that LCS for social threat acted as a mediator between other-directedness and social anxiety at T3. These results are important to improve the knowledge of the cognitive mechanisms that are involved in the occurrence and development of social anxiety.

Psychometric properties of the looming maladaptative style questionnaire (LMSQ-R) in young Spanish adults / Propiedades psicométricas del Cuestionario de Estilo Disfuncional de Looming (LMSQ-R) en jóvenes españoles

BACKGROUND: The looming cognitive style (LCS) is a specific putative cognitive vulnerability to anxiety but not to depression. LCS is assessed by the Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire (LMSQ-R), which assesses a tendency to generate, maintain, and attend to internally generated scenarios of threats as rapidly increasing and headed in one's direction. This study investigated the structure, measurement invariance across subsamples, concurrent validity, consistency, and stability of a Spanish translation of the LMSQ-R. METHOD: LMSQ-R was examined in a large sample of Spanish students (n = 1,128, 56.47% women). A subsample of 675 was followed-up six months later. The participants also completed measures of social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and depression. RESULTS: The results provide evidence from factor analyses confirming two second-order factors (social and physical threat). Multiple-group analysis indicated the measurement invariance of the model for men and women and for groups that displayed clinically significant generalized social anxiety and those that did not. Women scored higher on the LMSQ-R. Partial correlation analyses indicated that LMSQ-R scales were independently associated with symptoms of generalized and social anxiety but they were not independently associated with depression. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the LMSQ-R has shown good psychometric properties

ANTECEDENTES: el Estilo Cognitivo de Looming (ECL) es una vulnerabilidad cognitiva específica a la ansiedad pero no a la depresión. El ECL se evalúa con el Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire (LMSQ-R), que mide la tendencia interna a generar, mantener y atender escenarios en los que la amenaza aumenta dirigiéndose hacia la persona. Evaluamos la estructura, invarianza de medida entre submuestras, consistencia, estabilidad y validez concurrente de la adaptación al español del LMSQ-R. MÉTODO: el LMSQ-R se examinó en una muestra de estudiantes españoles (n = 1.128, 56,47% mujeres), evaluando a una submuestra de 675 seis meses después. Los participantes completaron medidas de ansiedad social, ansiedad generalizada y depresión. RESULTADOS: los resultados obtenidos confirman una estructura de dos factores de segundo orden (amenaza social y física). Los análisis multigrupo indicaron la invarianza de medida a través de género y en un grupo con puntuaciones clínicas en ansiedad social y sin ellas. Las mujeres puntuaron más alto en el LMSQ-R. Las correlaciones indicaron la asociación de las escalas del LMSQ-R con los síntomas de ansiedad social y generalizada pero no se asociaban independientemente con la depresión. CONCLUSIONES: la versión española del LMSQ-R ha demostrado buenos índices de fiabilidad y validez

Psychometric properties of the Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire (LMSQ-R) in young Spanish adults.

BACKGROUND: The looming cognitive style (LCS) is a specific putative cognitive vulnerability to anxiety but not to depression. LCS is assessed by the Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire (LMSQ-R), which assesses a tendency to generate, maintain, and attend to internally generated scenarios of threats as rapidly increasing and headed in one's direction. This study investigated the structure, measurement invariance across subsamples, concurrent validity, consistency, and stability of a Spanish translation of the LMSQ-R. METHOD: LMSQ-R was examined in a large sample of Spanish students (n = 1,128, 56.47% women). A subsample of 675 was followed-up six months later. The participants also completed measures of social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and depression. RESULTS: The results provide evidence from factor analyses confirming two second-order factors (social and physical threat). Multiple-group analysis indicated the measurement invariance of the model for men and women and for groups that displayed clinically significant generalized social anxiety and those that did not. Women scored higher on the LMSQ-R. Partial correlation analyses indicated that LMSQ-R scales were independently associated with symptoms of generalized and social anxiety but they were not independently associated with depression. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the LMSQ-R has shown good psychometric properties.