Narrow Specificity of Responsibility and Intolerance of Uncertainty in Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior and Generalized Anxiety Symptoms

Abstract

Broad and narrow specificity are current issues within cognitive models of psychopathology. The aim of this study was to describe the nature of the relationship between inflated responsibility (measured with the Responsibility Attitudes Scale [RAS]) and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (measured with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale self-report [Y-BOCS]) and between intolerance of uncertainty (measured with the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale [IUS]) and generalized anxiety symptoms (measured with the Worry and Anxiety Questionnaire [WAQ]). A sample consisting of undergraduates was used in both cases. Hierarchical regression analysis and a methodological approach proposed by Garber and Hollon (1991) were used. The results showed that responsibility was relevant to, and specific to, obsessive-compulsive symptoms even when other associated variables were controlled for. Intolerance of uncertainty was relevant to, but not specific to, generalized anxiety symptoms. These results clarify the roles of bot...