Race moderates the impact of intolerance of uncertainty on mental health symptoms in Black and White community adults

Urged to feel certain again: The role of emotion-related impulsivity on the relationships between intolerance of uncertainty and OCD symptom severity

OBJECTIVES

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating mental disorder characterized by persistent and intrusive thoughts accompanied by repetitive mental or physical acts. While both intolerance of uncertainty and emotion-related impulsivity have been consistently evidenced as cognitive risk factors of OCD, no studies have considered their joint effects. The current study examined the interaction between intolerance of uncertainty and two forms of emotion-related impulsivity-including both a behavioural and cognitive form-in predicting OCD symptoms.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional data were collected online from community-based adult participants.

METHODS

Participants (N = 673) completed a battery of self-report measures of OCD symptom severity, intolerance of uncertainty, and emotion-related impulsivity.

RESULTS

The behavioural form of emotion-related impulsivity positively moderated the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and OCD symptoms. Elevated levels of both factors predicted the most severe symptoms, particularly checking, washing, and obsessing. This interaction effect was not found for the cognitive form of emotion-related impulsivity, which still emerged as a unique predictor of OCD symptom severity, specifically obsessing symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Current findings furthered the understanding of the link between intolerance of uncertainty and OCD symptoms by highlighting the role of emotion-related impulsivity. When uncertainty triggers distress in individuals with high intolerance of uncertainty, the urge to behaviourally alleviate this distress could promote the use of maladaptive obsessions and compulsions, leading to greater OCD symptoms. Results also indicated the potentially differential effects from the behavioural versus cognitive forms of emotion-related impulsivity on different symptom domains, and the mechanistic link here is worthy of further investigation.

Impact of Environmental Uncertainty on Depression and Anxiety Among Chinese Workers: A Moderated Mediation Model

Purpose

Environmental uncertainty has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. While there is substantial knowledge about the connection between environmental uncertainty and organizational outcomes, limited attention has been devoted to investigating its impact on employees' depression and anxiety symptoms. Grounded in job demands-resources theory, this study aims to explore the relationship between environmental uncertainty and employees' depression and anxiety symptoms, and it further investigates the mediating role of work pressure and the moderating role of union practices.

Methods

In September 2022, we undertook a cross-sectional survey study, gathering data from 1081 employees across various enterprises situated in Liaoning, China. Throughout this timeframe, notable global occurrences heightened the awareness of environmental uncertainty. Following the exclusion of participants who did not provide information on the main variables, the final valid sample comprised 940 employees. To test all hypotheses, a series of confirmatory factor analyses and path-analytic procedures were conducted using Mplus 7.0.

Results

Our results confirm that environmental uncertainty, as a high job demand, increases employees' work pressure, thereby elevating rates of anxiety and depression; the indirect relationship between environmental uncertainty and employees' anxiety and depression through work pressure is stronger when union practices are lower.

Conclusion

Our findings indicate the detrimental impact of environmental uncertainty on employees' mental health, and highlight the roles of work pressure and union practices. In light of this, organizations should take steps to mitigate employees' perceptions of environmental uncertainty and establish mental health programs, in cooperation with union practices, to protect employees' mental well-being.

Intolerance of Uncertainty and Worry Prospectively Predict COVID-19 Anxiety and Distress: A 4-Year Longitudinal Study

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated an uptick in poor mental health outcomes, including coronavirus-related anxiety and distress. Preliminary research has shown that intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and worry proneness, two transdiagnostic risk factors for anxiety and related disorders, are associated cross-sectionally with pandemic-related fear and distress. However, the extent to which IU and worry proneness prospectively predict coronavirus-related anxiety and distress is unclear. Whether IU and worry may also interact in prospectively predicting coronavirus-related anxiety and distress is also unknown. To address this knowledge gap, the present study examined IU and trait worry as prospective predictors of the level and trajectory of coronavirus anxiety and COVID stress syndrome over time, as well as the extent to which worry moderated the relation between IU and pandemic-related outcomes. Participants (n = 310) who completed self-report measures of IU and trait worry in 2016 were contacted following the onset of COVID-19 in 2020 and completed biweekly measures of coronavirus anxiety and COVID stress syndrome for 30 weeks. Multilevel models revealed that IU assessed in 2016 significantly predicted the severity of both coronavirus anxiety and COVID stress syndrome throughout the study period in 2020. Worry also moderated the link between IU and coronavirus anxiety, such that individuals with high levels of trait worry and high IU in 2016 experienced the most coronavirus anxiety in 2020. Results suggest that IU and worry functioned as independent and interactive vulnerability factors for subsequent adverse psychological reactions to COVID-19. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

Cognitive and emotional factors related to COVID-19 among high-risk ethnically diverse adults at the onset of the New York City outbreak: A cross-sectional survey

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among high-risk, racially/ethnically diverse adults at the point in time when New York City (NYC) became the COVID-19 pandemic's global epicenter. The study objective was to assess the threat and coping appraisals (cognitive factors known to correspond with people's willingness to adopt behaviorally focused interventions) and levels of distress, anxiety, and intolerance for uncertainty (emotional factors). Survey respondents were recruited in April 2020 using an online survey with unpaid recruitment on the GetHealthyHeights.org community-oriented website. We also recruited participants that engaged in previous research studies to gain survey responses from community members at higher risk for COVID-19 complications due to comorbidities compared to the general population. Analysis was performed to test for differences in survey responses by comorbidities, age, race, ethnicity, and employment status. Results show that the devastating effects of the pandemic appear to have uniquely impacted minority respondents, who reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and were significantly more likely to report having little control over whether they will get COVID-19 compared with White/non-Hispanic respondents. Minority respondents also had significantly higher mean scores on the behaviorally focused dimension of the intolerance of uncertainty (IU) scale, which measures avoidance and paralysis in the face of uncertainty. In multivariate analysis, IU predicted anxiety levels, and this association was not mediated by cognitive factors (threat and coping appraisals). By conducting this survey early in the pandemic, our study uniquely evaluated cognitive and emotional factors among a racially/ethnically diverse group of NYC residents during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest the need to acknowledge the disparities that appear to exist in pandemic response and for culturally tailored messaging and interventions. Few studies have reported differences by race and ethnicity during pandemic exposure. Therefore, further research on factors that may influence pandemic response among minority populations is needed.