Anxiety, OCD, Psychological Flexibility, and Depression: A Replication With Racially Minoritized University Students

Abstract

OCD and anxiety are both associated with depression and suicide, but there is a need for comprehensive assessment and screening of depression risk factors within ethnically and racially minoritized college students. In total, 128 university students were surveyed in 2022 in the northeastern United States who all endorsed at least one non-white racial identity. They completed measures of anxiety, depression, OCD symptoms and psychological flexibility. Results supported that anxiety and OCD symptoms were positively associated with high depression, and high psychological flexibility was associated with low depression. Results support continued screening and intervention for anxiety and OCD symptoms to address depression in diverse young adults. Future work should continue to assess the protective effects of targeting psychological flexibility constructs and to assess longitudinal impacts of OCD symptoms and anxiety on depression.

Keywords: Anxiety; depression; obsessive compulsive symptoms; psychological flexibility; risk factors.