Examining Associations Between Metacognitive Beliefs and Type II Worry: The Specificity of Negative Metacognitive Beliefs to State Type II Worry During a Worry Episode

Abstract

The metacognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) considers Type II worry, which represents one's tendency to negatively appraise worry, as a defining feature of GAD, and negative metacognitive beliefs are central to eliciting Type II worry during worry episodes. Extant research has found that individuals experiencing GAD report elevated Type II worry, and that negative metacognitive beliefs correlate with Type II worry. However, because of how Type II worry was assessed in existing studies, it remains unclear if negative metacognitive beliefs relate to state Type II worry specifically during a worry episode. This study sought to fill that gap in the existing literature among a sample of individuals experiencing elevated GAD symptom severity (N = 106). Participants completed an assessment of GAD symptom severity and metacognitive beliefs, while later attending an in-person study session where they completed a worry induction and state Type II worry, as conceptualized as the strength of negative appraisals of worry, which was then assessed. Metacognitive beliefs generally positively correlated with state Type II worry, with negative metacognitive beliefs being the only metacognitive belief domain that correlated with state Type II worry in multivariate analyses. Implications for how these results support the metacognitive model of GAD and treatment implications are discussed.

Keywords: generalized anxiety disorder (GAD); metacognitive; type II worry; worry.