What are the roles of perfectionism and responsibility in checking and cleaning compulsions?

How does thought-action fusion relate to responsibility attitudes and thought suppression to aggravate the obsessive-compulsive symptoms?

BACKGROUND

Comprehensive cognitive theories of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) propose that clinical obsessions and compulsions arise from specific sorts of dysfunctional beliefs and appraisals, such as inflated sense of responsibility, thought-action fusion (TAF), and thought suppression.

AIMS

The present study aimed to examine the mediator roles of responsibility and thought suppression between TAF and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Specifically, it aimed to explore the relative effects of TAF factors (i.e. morality and likelihood) on inflated sense of responsibility and on thought suppression to increase the obsessive qualities of intrusions.

METHOD

Two hundred and eighty-three Turkish undergraduate students completed a battery of measures on responsibility, thought suppression, TAF, OC symptoms, and depression.

RESULTS

A series of hierarchical regression analyses, where depressive symptoms were controlled for, indicated that TAF-morality and TAF-likelihood follow different paths toward OC symptoms. Although TAF-morality associated with inflated sense of responsibility, TAF-likelihood associated with thought suppression efforts, and in turn these factors increased OC symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide support for the critical role of sense of responsibility and thought suppression between the relationship of TAF and OC symptoms. Findings were discussed in line with the literature.

How does locus of control and inflated sense of responsibility relate to obsessive-compulsive symptoms in Turkish adolescents?

This study aimed to examine the effects of responsibility attitudes, locus of control and their interactions on the general obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptomatology and the dimensions of OC symptoms in a sample of Turkish adolescents (n=385), their ages varied from 16 to 20 with a mean of 17.23 (S.D.=.68). The results of the present study revealed a significantly positive relationship between responsibility attitudes and general OC symptomatology. However, locus of control did not appear as a significant predictor of general OC symptomatology. Furthermore, results revealed that there was a significant interaction effect of responsibility attitudes with locus of control on OC symptomatology. That is, an inflated sense of responsibility and the presence of an external locus of control produced the highest level of OC symptoms. Related to the dimensions of OC symptoms, responsibility was a weak predictor of obsessive thinking symptoms, and a moderate predictor of cleanliness and checking symptoms. Locus of control and its interaction with responsibility attitudes only significantly predicted obsessional thinking symptoms.