Gioia Bottesi1, Marta Ghisi2, Claudio Sica3, Mark H Freeston4. 1. Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy. Electronic address: gioia.bottesi@unipd.it. 2. Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy. Electronic address: marta.ghisi@unipd.it. 3. Department of Health Sciences, University of Firenze, via di San Salvi 12, Complesso di San Salvi Padiglione 26, 50135 Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: claudio.sica@unifi.it. 4. Institute of Neuroscience, (Ridley Building, 4th Floor), Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 7RU, United Kingdom. Electronic address: mark.freeston@ncl.ac.uk.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and not just right experiences (NJREs) have been claimed putative vulnerability factors for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The aim of the present study was to test whether IU could represent a trans-diagnostic construct accountable for OC checking behaviors and whether NJREs could embody an OCD-specific criterion through which IU operates. METHOD: One hundred and eighty-eight Italian community individuals completed self-report measures of IU, NJREs, OC symptoms, worry, anxiety, and depression. Mediation and moderated mediation models were tested using a bootstrapping approach, wherein IU was included as the independent variable as well as the moderator; checking behaviors were entered as the dependent variable; and NJRE severity was included as a mediator. RESULTS: The main findings highlighted that NJREs were a mediator of the relationship between IU and checking behaviors; nonetheless, in connection with medium levels of IU, NJREs no longer mediated the path. Furthermore, IU did not emerge to moderate the mediation. CONCLUSION: Despite their preliminary nature, the present results might be a hint for future research, as theoretical integration may represent a way to go for better understanding OCD etiology and phenomenology.
OBJECTIVE: Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and not just right experiences (NJREs) have been claimed putative vulnerability factors for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The aim of the present study was to test whether IU could represent a trans-diagnostic construct accountable for OC checking behaviors and whether NJREs could embody an OCD-specific criterion through which IU operates. METHOD: One hundred and eighty-eight Italian community individuals completed self-report measures of IU, NJREs, OC symptoms, worry, anxiety, and depression. Mediation and moderated mediation models were tested using a bootstrapping approach, wherein IU was included as the independent variable as well as the moderator; checking behaviors were entered as the dependent variable; and NJRE severity was included as a mediator. RESULTS: The main findings highlighted that NJREs were a mediator of the relationship between IU and checking behaviors; nonetheless, in connection with medium levels of IU, NJREs no longer mediated the path. Furthermore, IU did not emerge to moderate the mediation. CONCLUSION: Despite their preliminary nature, the present results might be a hint for future research, as theoretical integration may represent a way to go for better understanding OCD etiology and phenomenology.