Psychological inflexibility as it relates to stress, worry, generalized anxiety, and somatization in an ethnically diverse sample of college students

Abstract

IntroductionPsychological inflexibility is conceptualized as rigid attempts to control psychological reactions to discomfort at the expense of values-guided actions. This construct has recently started to be examined in college students, who experience considerable psychological distress. This study examined whether psychological inflexibility was related to anxious symptomatology in an ethnically diverse sample of college students MethodStudents (N = 538) completed a web-based survey that included questions regarding their psychological distress and well-being. Multiple regressions were used to examine the associations between psychological inflexibility and stress, worry, generalized anxiety, and somatization while adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and perception of socioeconomic status. The interaction between psychological inflexibility and race/ethnicity in predicting outcomes was also examined ResultsThe sample included individuals identifying as males (21.4%) and females (78.3%) between the ages of 18 and 74. The majority of participants were Hispanic-Americans (31.2%), followed by Asian-Americans (30.0%), European-Americans (21.3%), African-Americans (13.2%), and "Other" (4.3%). There was a significant association of psychological inflexibility on all four outcomes. High psychological inflexibility was positively associated with the presence of stress, worry, generalized anxiety, and somatization, even after controlling for demographic covariates. These associations were the same across race/ethnicities, except for the link between psychological inflexibility and worry being lower for Hispanics-American compared to European- Americans ConclusionAn individual's attempt to control and minimize experiencing unwanted feelings, thoughts, or events is an important factor to consider in understanding college students’ anxious symptomatology. Teaching psychological flexibility techniques through interventions such as acceptance and commitment therapy may help students to better respond to psychologically distressing situations. Intervention research among diverse ethnic groups is needed to further confirm and expand these findings.