Intolerance of uncertainty and obsessive-compulsive symptom expression

Research suggests a relationship between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), though this has been limited to self-report measures of OCD symptoms. The current investigation examined the relationship between IU and multiple symptom domains of OCD using self-report and in vivo assessments of OC symptoms.

Five separate studies are presented in which undergraduate students (N=603) were administered a self-report measure of IU and tasks related to either ordering and arranging, checking, washing, contamination avoidance, or neutralization.

Intolerance of uncertainty was found to be significantly related to each self-report measure of the OCD symptom domains (ps < .01). Further, IU was predictive of performance on all in vivo tasks (ps < .05) except one concerning neutralizing/harm-related obsessions.

This study relied on an unselected sample and was correlational in design.

The current study demonstrates that IU is related to multiple OC symptom dimensions. Future experimental research is warranted to evaluate the causal role of IU in OCD.