Uzun Kıvanç, Ünlü Süleyman, Arslan Gökmen
Department of Psychological Counselling and Guidance, Faculty of Education, Uşak University, Uşak 64200, Türkiye.
Department of Turkish Education, Faculty of Education, Uşak University, Uşak 64200, Türkiye.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 May 16;15(5):687. doi: 10.3390/bs15050687.
In order to support the psychological well-being of individuals in emerging adulthood, it is important to understand the cognitive mechanisms that may contribute to social anxiety. In particular, intolerance of uncertainty is considered an important factor associated with anxiety levels among emerging adults. Accordingly, this cross-sectional study investigated whether intolerance of uncertainty is associated with social anxiety through ruminative thoughts. The study group consisted of 405 individuals living in Türkiye and in emerging adulthood, 70.60% ( = 286) of whom were female and 29.40% ( = 119) of whom were male. The ages of the participants selected by convenience sampling method ranged between 18 and 25 years, with a mean age of 21.73 years ( = 1.87). In this study, data were collected using a demographic information form and three different self-report scales. The findings revealed that intolerance of uncertainty was significantly associated with higher levels of social anxiety ( = 0.22, < 0.001). Moreover, rumination emerged as a significant cognitive mediator in this relationship ( = 0.23, < 0.001). The indirect effect was statistically significant, indicating that individuals who experience high intolerance of uncertainty may be more prone to social anxiety when they also engage in ruminative thinking. Together, intolerance of uncertainty and rumination explained 26% of the variance in social anxiety ( = 0.26). These results emphasize the importance of targeting both intolerance of uncertainty and rumination in interventions aimed at reducing social anxiety among emerging adults.
为了支持处于成年初期个体的心理健康，了解可能导致社交焦虑的认知机制很重要。特别是，对不确定性的不容忍被认为是与成年初期个体焦虑水平相关的一个重要因素。因此，这项横断面研究调查了对不确定性的不容忍是否通过反刍思维与社交焦虑相关。研究组由405名生活在土耳其且处于成年初期的个体组成，其中70.60%（=286）为女性，29.40%（=119）为男性。采用便利抽样法选取的参与者年龄在18至25岁之间，平均年龄为21.73岁（=1.87）。在本研究中，使用人口统计学信息表和三种不同的自我报告量表收集数据。研究结果显示，对不确定性的不容忍与较高水平的社交焦虑显著相关（=0.22，<0.001）。此外，反刍思维在这种关系中是一个显著的认知中介因素（=0.23，<0.001）。间接效应具有统计学意义，表明对不确定性高度不容忍的个体在进行反刍思维时可能更容易出现社交焦虑。总之，对不确定性的不容忍和反刍思维共同解释了社交焦虑中26%的变异（=0.26）。这些结果强调了在旨在减少成年初期个体社交焦虑的干预措施中，针对对不确定性的不容忍和反刍思维的重要性。
