Metacognitions About Health in Relation to Coronavirus Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Cognitive Attentional Syndrome and Distress Tolerance

The current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of cognitive attentional syndrome (CAS) and distress tolerance in the relationship between health-related metacognitions and coronavirus anxiety. The sample of this study consisted of 462 participants (381 female). Participants voluntarily completed self-report questionnaires on each of the variables mentioned above. The results of the structural modeling analysis showed that health-related metacognitions have a significant effect on the mediator variable of distress tolerance and CAS. Also, health-related metacognitions had a direct effect on coronavirus anxiety. Also, based on the results of the bootstrap test, it can be argued that health-related metacognitive beliefs, apart from their direct effect, play an important role in coronavirus anxiety, with CAS acting as a mediator. This study provides insights into the relationships among metacognitive beliefs, coronavirus anxiety, CAS, and distress tolerance. In particular, dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, including an individual's beliefs about the uncontrollability of disease-related thoughts, are risk factors that could negatively affect mental health, leading to coronavirus anxiety. In addition, the association of dysfunctional beliefs with maladaptive behaviors resulting from the cognitive attentional syndrome is also involved in predicting and causing coronavirus anxiety. Given the insignificant role of emotional distress tolerance in the psychopathology of COVID-19 anxiety, the findings emphasize the importance of cognitive factors in this context.

Emotional Schemas and Psychological Distress: Mediating Role of Resilience and Cognitive Flexibility

Objective: This study aimed to explore the structural relation of emotional schemas with psychological distress and evaluate the mediating role of resilience and cognitive flexibility in this relationship. Method : Participants were 300 students that voluntarily completed a questionnaire package that included the Leahy Emotional Schema Scale (LESS-P), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Then, we utilized the LISREL software for structural equation modeling. Results: Structural equation modeling and path analysis revealed the direct effects of adaptive and maladaptive emotional schemas on psychological distress. The results indicated that maladaptive emotional schemas indirectly affected psychological distress via resilience and cognitive flexibility (P < 0.01). In contrast, adaptive emotional schemas indirectly affected psychological distress via cognitive flexibility rather than resilience (P < 0.05). Evaluation of the proposed structural model revealed an acceptable fit. Conclusion: The present research findings show the effect of emotional schemas on psychological distress via resilience and cognitive flexibility. Furthermore, the results suggest that resilience partially mediates the relationship between emotional schemas and psychological distress. At the same time, cognitive flexibility mediated this relationship.