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. 2020 Sep 8:11:565107.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.565107. eCollection 2020.

Fear of Uncertainty Makes You More Anxious? Effect of Intolerance of Uncertainty on College Students' Social Anxiety: A Moderated Mediation Model

Jie Li  1   2 , Ying Xia  1 , Xinying Cheng  1 , Shijia Li  1
Affiliations

Fear of Uncertainty Makes You More Anxious? Effect of Intolerance of Uncertainty on College Students' Social Anxiety: A Moderated Mediation Model

Jie Li et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the relationships among intolerance of uncertainty (IU), social anxiety (SA), rumination, and pessimistic explanatory style (PES) in a sample of college students.

Methods: Questionnaires were completed by 533 college students.

Results: Rumination partially mediated the relationship between IU and SA, and PES plays an important role in moderating the direct path (IU→SA) and the first part of the mediation process. When the PES is low, IU predicts SA less strongly but is related to rumination. Conversely, IU in individuals with a high PES predicts SA more directly.

Conclusion: Rumination plays a mediating role between IU and SA, and the PES moderates the direct path and the first stage of the mediation model.

Keywords: college students; intolerance of uncertainty; moderated mediation model; pessimistic explanatory style; rumination; social anxiety.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The mediating role of rumination and moderating role of PES. IU, intolerance of uncertainty; PES, pessimistic explanatory style; SA, social anxiety.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Moderating role of pessimistic explanation style on the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and social anxiety.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Moderating role of pessimistic explanation style on the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and rumination.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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