Control and acceptance beliefs about emotions: associations with psychological distress and the mediating role of emotion regulation flexibility

Intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety: The role of beliefs about emotions

BACKGROUND

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a dimensional trait fundamental to most psychopathologies, and anxiety disorders in particular, making it an important transdiagnostic construct for researchers and clinicians. Current psychological therapies focus on changing underlying cognitive assumptions related to uncertainty. However, we posit that IU conveys beliefs about emotions too. In line with established findings on beliefs about emotions in general, we tested the hypothesis that the relationship between IU and anxiety is mediated by beliefs about the controllability and/or usefulness of emotions.

METHODS

Participants (N = 2260) were administered the Emotions Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ); the General Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7), and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS - 12). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the EBQ was conducted followed by Pearson correlation coefficients among the central measures, and a parallel mediation analysis to address the central research question.

RESULTS

Our CFA supported the intended factor structure of the EBQ. The results of our mediation analysis supported the prediction that the association between IU and anxiety is partially mediated by general beliefs about emotions.

LIMITATIONS

Although our sample size was large, the age range was limited so future research could expand the age range to maximise generalizability. This is a cross-sectional study so causal inferences are restricted.

CONCLUSION

Given the present findings, current interventions for IU and their focus on beliefs about uncertainty, might benefit from incorporating strategies to improve beliefs about emotions, and thus improve therapeutic effectiveness.

Emotion differentiation and negative emotional states: the mediating role of perceived academic control and the moderated effect of intrinsic motivation

University students experience academic pressure, fatigue, and changes in their everyday and social lives during their transition into college. This study explored variables that influenced first-year students' stress, anxiety, and depression at a university in Chile. The remnant of long-term social unrest, which emerged at the end of the dictatorship in 1990, has lasted for more than three decades. It is present in the education sector and might reflect the negative emotional states that Chilean students still experience. In this way, students' capacity to distinguish and to regulate stress, anxiety, and depression is crucial, especially in contexts where intense negative emotional states occur; thus, more research is needed to achieve a richer understanding in academic settings. The study involved testing hypotheses over 6 months to undertake a regression-based path analysis using simple mediation and moderated mediation analysis. Results revealed that students' perceptions of their academic control mediated the relationship between their factor differentiation of emotional experiences and stress, anxiety, and depression. The indirect effect was statistically significantly moderated by intrinsic motivation. Consequently, the effect of their ability to differentiate emotions on stress, anxiety, and depression through the mediator changed due to the levels of intrinsic motivation. Implications and recommendations are discussed.