Department of Psychology, Florida State University, 1107 W. Call St., Tallahassee, FL 32306, United States.
J Affect Disord. 2013 Feb 20;145(2):227-31. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2012.08.003. Epub 2012 Aug 22.
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) has been identified as a key vulnerability factor among numerous anxiety related conditions. It has been suggested that individuals engage in uncertainty-motivated behaviors such as avoidance, as a way to cope with ambiguous and potentially distressing situations. Patterns of behavioral avoidance have also been observed in a substantial number of hoarding patients and are thought to directly contribute to the avoidance of discarding. However, no studies to date have examined the potential relationship between IU and hoarding. The primary aim of the current investigation was to examine the association between IU and hoarding behaviors.
Participants consisted of 279 college students from a large southern university.
Results revealed that IU was a significant predictor of hoarding severity after controlling for relevant covariates. Moreover, when looking at the relationships among IU subfactors and hoarding, results indicated that Factor 1 was significantly associated with hoarding severity whereas Factor 2 was not.
Future research should attempt to replicate the findings within clinical populations. Additionally, due to the cross sectional nature of the study, future work should utilize a longitudinal design.
The current study provides additional evidence that IU is an important individual difference variable associated with various anxiety related conditions. Moreover, our findings revealed that IU is a unique and robust predictor of hoarding behaviors. Increasing our knowledge of vulnerability factors in compulsive hoarding has important implications for the classification of this disorder within DSM-V. Additionally, this information could inform future research and treatment programs.
不确定性容忍度（IU）已被确定为许多与焦虑相关的病症的关键脆弱性因素之一。有人认为，个体通过回避等不确定性驱动的行为来应对模糊且可能令人痛苦的情况。在大量囤积症患者中也观察到了回避行为模式，并且认为这些行为模式直接导致了避免丢弃。然而，迄今为止，尚无研究探讨 IU 与囤积之间的潜在关系。本研究的主要目的是检验 IU 与囤积行为之间的关联。
参与者包括来自一所大型南方大学的 279 名大学生。
结果表明，在控制了相关协变量后，IU 是囤积严重程度的重要预测指标。此外，当观察 IU 子因素与囤积之间的关系时，结果表明，第 1 因素与囤积严重程度显著相关，而第 2 因素则没有。
未来的研究应尝试在临床人群中复制这些发现。此外，由于研究的横截面性质，未来的工作应采用纵向设计。
本研究提供了更多证据表明 IU 是与各种与焦虑相关的病症相关的重要个体差异变量。此外，我们的发现表明，IU 是囤积行为的独特而强大的预测指标。增加我们对强迫性囤积脆弱性因素的了解，对 DSM-V 中这种疾病的分类具有重要意义。此外，这些信息可以为未来的研究和治疗计划提供信息。
