The interactive effect of mental contamination and cognitive fusion on anxiety.

Abstract

Mental contamination and cognitive fusion have been identified as risk factors for anxiety. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of cognitive fusion on the relationship between mental contamination and anxiety. Participants (N = 504 community adults), recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), completed measures of mental contamination, cognitive fusion, and anxiety. Results from a regression analysis showed that the interaction between mental contamination and cognitive fusion predicted anxiety (β = 0.15, p < 0.001). Simple slopes analysis revealed a positive association between mental contamination and anxiety that was significant at higher (β = 0.25, p < 0.001), but not lower (β = 0.01, p = 0.88), levels of cognitive fusion. The development of risk profiles that incorporate mental contamination and cognitive fusion may be beneficial for early identification of individuals at high risk for anxiety.