Background and objectives: Safety behaviors display some similarities to coping behaviors, raising questions about whether the two sets of behaviors display distinct associations with anxiety symptoms.
Design and method: To examine this issue, we conducted two cross-sectional studies in which participants (n = 243 and 157) completed measures of the safety behaviors associated with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), the Brief Ways of Coping Scale (BWOC), and SAD and GAD symptom measures. In Study 1, extant safety-behavior and coping measures were used. In Study 2, the measures were modified so that they followed the same format and instructions.
Results: Both studies indicated that the safety behavior measures displayed strong positive associations with their respective symptoms, as did several dysfunctional coping strategies, most notably wishful thinking.
Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary empirical support for the conceptual distinction between safety behaviors and coping, and suggest that assessing both concepts provide a nuanced understanding of responding to anxiety-evoking situations.
Highlights• Safety-seeking strategies and coping behaviors have striking similarities• We conducted two studies to compare extant measures of the two constructs• Participants were able to distinguish the two set of behaviors• Both safety behaviors and dysfunctional coping were associated with anxiety symptoms.
Keywords: Safety behaviors; anxiety disorders; coping.