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Responsibility to continue thinking and worrying: evidence of incremental validity
1Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. ysugiur@shinshu-u.ac.jp
Behaviour Research and Therapy
|September 30, 2006
Summary
The study found that the "responsibility to continue thinking" uniquely predicts excessive worry, even beyond other cognitive factors. This highlights the importance of rigid thinking patterns in understanding persistent worry.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychopathology
Background:
- Excessive worry is a core feature of anxiety disorders.
- Cognitive models emphasize the role of meta-cognitions in maintaining worry.
- The 'responsibility to continue thinking' construct has not been fully explored in relation to worry.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the predictive role of the responsibility to continue thinking in excessive worry.
- To determine if this construct offers incremental validity beyond known worry predictors.
- To examine its relationship with other cognitive and personality factors associated with worry.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted with student samples (N=122 and N=150).
- Participants completed questionnaires assessing worry, responsibility to continue thinking, negative meta-cognitive beliefs, emotional instability (Neuroticism), and other cognitive variables.
- Regression analyses were used to examine the predictive power of the responsibility to continue thinking.
Main Results:
- Responsibility to continue thinking significantly predicted excessive worry in both studies.
- It accounted for unique variance in worry beyond negative meta-cognitive beliefs about worry.
- It remained a significant predictor even after controlling for emotional instability and other worry-related cognitions.
Conclusions:
- The responsibility to continue thinking is a significant and incremental predictor of excessive worry.
- This construct, reflecting motivation for inflexible thinking, adds to our understanding of worry maintenance.
- Findings suggest that targeting rigid thinking patterns may be beneficial in interventions for excessive worry.
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