Mujgan Inozu

The mediating role of disgust sensitivity and thought-action fusion between religiosity and obsessive compulsive symptoms

Psychological theories of obsessions and compulsions have long recognised that strict religious codes and moral standards might promote thought-action fusion (TAF) appraisals. These appraisals have been implicated in the transformation of normally occurring intrusions into clinically distressing obsessions. Furthermore, increased disgust sensitivity has also been reported to be associated with obsessive compulsive (OC) symptoms. No research, however, has investigated the mediating roles of TAF and disgust sensitivity between religiosity and OC symptoms. This study was composed of 244 undergraduate students who completed measures of OC symptoms, TAF, disgust sensitivity, religiosity and negative effect. Analyses revealed that the relationship between religiosity and OC symptoms was mediated by TAF and disgust sensitivity. More importantly, the mediating role of TAF was not different across OC symptom subtypes, whereas the mediating role of disgust sensitivity showed different patterns across OC symptom subtypes. These findings indicate that the tendency for highly religious Muslims to experience greater OC symptoms is related to their heightened beliefs about disgust sensitivity and the importance of thoughts.

PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE INVENTORY-REVISED IN A TURKISH ANALOGUE SAMPLE.

The Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory–Revised (OCI–R) assesses distress associated with the symptoms of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). This study reports on the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the OCI–R as a widely known measure. The sample consisted of 319 Turkish university students (67.1% women; M age = 21.5, SD = 2.0). The questionnaire battery included measures of OCD symptoms, specific cognitions, thought control, and personality characteristics. A target rotation analysis supported the factorial validity of the Turkish OCI–R as indicated by its replicability with the original factor structure (i.e., checking, washing, obsessing, hoarding, ordering, and mental neutralizing). High-scoring OCD symptom groups also significantly differed on the Turkish OCI–R and thus presented preliminary evidence for its criterion validity. Correlational analysis supported convergent and divergent validity of the measure, with significant correlations between the Turkish OCI–R and OCD symptoms, OCD-specific beliefs, two thought control strategies (e.g., worry and punishment), and neuroticism, but not with psychoticism or extraversion. The current findings provide initial evidence of sound psychometric properties for the Turkish OCI–R In a nonclinical sample.

Neuroticism and Religiosity: The Role of Obsessive Beliefs, Thought-Control Strategies and Guilt in Scrupulosity and Obsessive–Compulsive Symptoms Among Muslim Undergraduates

Neuroticism and religiosity are distal vulnerability factors for OCD phenomenon. The present study aimed to examine the roles of obsessive beliefs (OBs), thought-control strategies, and guilt in the relationship between these vulnerability factors and obsessive–compulsive symptoms (OCSs), specifically scrupulosity symptoms in a Muslim sample via SEM. The sample consisted of 273 university students who filled out a set of questionnaires. The results indicated that neuroticism and the degree of religiosity predict OBs that are positively associated with guilt and self-punishment both of which predict scrupulosity and other OCSs. Findings of the present study were discussed in the context of the related literature.

The relationship between obsessive compulsive disorder and mental contamination (MC): psychometric properties of Vancouver obsessive compulsive inventory-MC scale and thought-action fusion-contamination scale

Objective: Mental contamination is defined as feelings of internal dirtiness in absence of actual contact with a dirty physical object or a person. Mental contamination is considered to play an important role in maintenance and persistence of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This study aimed to examine psychometric properties of the Turkish version of two objective measures of mental contamination: Vancouver Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Mental Contamination Scale (VOCI-MC) and Thought-Action Fusion-Contamination Scale (TAF-CS). Method: The participants were 255 university students (183 females and 70 males) with the age range of 18-28 years. The participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire set consisted of VOCI-MC, TAF-CS, Thought-Action Fusion Scale (TAFS), Disgust Scale-Revised, Trait Anger Expression Inventory and Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R). Results: Reliability analyses indicated that internal consistency of VOCI-MC and TAF-CS were 0.93 and 0.92, and test-retest reliabilities were 0.79 and 0.61, respectively. Consistent with the original study, the results of explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that both scales had one factor structure. Convergent and divergent validity analyses revealed that both scales were positively correlated with OCI-R total scores and its subscales as well as TAF total score and its subscales; but this relationship was significantly less strong for Trait Anger and Disgust Sensitivity. While VOCI-MC significantly predicted OCD symptomatology, TAF-CS had no predictive power in this regard. Conclusions: The results support that psychometric properties of the Turkish versions of the scales meet acceptable standards for validity and reliability, and therefore can be used among Turkish population.