Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Wu, Kevin D.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a transdiagnostic cognitive vulnerability that has been linked to obsessive-compulsive (OC) and generalized anxiety (GA) symptoms. Inferential confusion (IC) refers to dysfunctional reasoning which overvalues imagined possibilities and devalues sensory information. The inference-based approach (IBA) proposes that IC generates obsessional doubt which leads to OC symptoms. Conceptually, IU and IC both involve the existence of multiple possibilities, and the limits of knowledge. No prior research has studied these constructs together. The current study sought to examine the relationships among IU, IC, and OC symptoms in a nonclinical sample. IC was explored as a potential condition under which IU specifically increases risk of OC symptoms rather than other correlated psychopathologies (i.e., GA symptoms). Thus, IU and IC were predicted to significantly interact in their association to OC symptoms but not GA symptoms. Participants were 257 undergraduates who completed a battery of self-report measures of IU (IUS-12 and OBQ-87 IU), IC (ICQ-EV and DRPT), OC symptoms, GA symptoms, and broad internalizing symptoms. All measures of IU and IC were significantly related to each other and to OC symptoms (ps < .001). When included together in a regression model along with depressive symptoms, both IUS-12 (β = .24, p < .001) and ICQ-EV (β = .34, p < .001) were significant predictors of OC symptoms (R2 = .42, F(3, 223) = 53.12, p < .001). Adding an interaction between IUS-12 and ICQ-EV significantly increased the variance in OC symptoms accounted for by the model (ΔR2 = .014, ΔF(1, 222) = 4.32, p = .039). The results found that IU was related to OC symptoms, but this relationship was stronger for higher levels of IC and was not significant at sufficiently low levels of IC. Importantly, the same interaction effect was not found for GA symptoms, suggesting that IU and IC may be specifically related in the development of OC symptoms. Thus, future research on these constructs may benefit from consideration of both together, particularly for investigations of clinical interventions which target IU or IC.

Extent

107 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

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Text

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