Intolerance of Uncertainty and Anxiety Symptoms: Examining the Indirect Effect Through Anxiety Sensitivity Among Adults with Anxiety-Related Disorders

Abstract

The conceptual overlap between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anxiety sensitivity (AS) has gained recent attention, with researchers theorizing that IU may lead individuals to have greater difficulty tolerating the uncertainty about feared consequences of anxiety-related symptoms. Research has indicated that AS may mediate the relationship between IU and certain disorder-specific anxiety symptoms; however, it remains unclear if this relationship is consistent in a treatment-seeking sample of adults with transdiagnostic anxiety-related disorders. We hypothesized that there would be a significant indirect effect of IU, including both inhibitory and prospective subscales, on anxiety symptoms through greater levels of global AS, as well as specifically through physical and cognitive AS dimensions in a transdiagnostic sample of 287 treatment-seeking adults diagnosed with anxiety-related disorders. Partially consistent with hypotheses, there was a significant indirect effect of global IU on anxiety through global AS, as well as specifically through physical and cognitive, but not social, AS dimensions. There was also a significant indirect effect of prospective IU on anxiety through global AS and physical and cognitive, but not social, AS dimensions. There was no indirect effect of inhibitory IU on anxiety symptoms through AS. Findings suggest that AS may be one mechanism of the association between IU and increased anxiety symptoms transdiagnostically.