Intolerance of uncertainty, depression, and anxiety: Examining the indirect and moderating effects of worry

Abstract

The present study sought to examine the indirect and moderating effects of worry between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and symptoms of depression and anxiety. The study was a cross sectional study. Data were collected from 120 psychiatric patients, aged 22 to 37 years. A battery of self-report questionnaires was administered for tapping IU, worry, depression and anxiety symptoms. Results from indirect effects analyses revealed that even though IU, worry, depression, and anxiety symptoms correlated moderately with each other, worry carried a substantial proportion of variance in predicting symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, the relative effect was more pronounced for anxiety compared to depression symptoms. The results from hierarchical analyses supported the moderator role of worry. More specifically, a high level of worry enhanced the association between IU and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Given the potential for worry as a mechanism, and/or moderator between IU and symptoms of depression and anxiety, adults with a tendency to use this negative repetitive thought process (e.g. worry) may be at higher risk to develop psychological symptoms.

Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Intolerance of uncertainty; Worry.