Fear of Uncertainty Makes You More Anxious? Effect of Intolerance of Uncertainty on College Students' Social Anxiety: A Moderated Mediation Model

Jie Li; Ying Xia; Xinying Cheng; Shijia Li

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.565107

Fear of Uncertainty Makes You More Anxious? Effect of Intolerance of Uncertainty on College Students' Social Anxiety: A Moderated Mediation Model

Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 8:11:565107. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.565107. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jie Li^{1

2}, Ying Xia¹, Xinying Cheng¹, Shijia Li¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China.
² Center of Mental Health Education and Research, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China.

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the relationships among intolerance of uncertainty (IU), social anxiety (SA), rumination, and pessimistic explanatory style (PES) in a sample of college students.

Methods: Questionnaires were completed by 533 college students.

Results: Rumination partially mediated the relationship between IU and SA, and PES plays an important role in moderating the direct path (IU→SA) and the first part of the mediation process. When the PES is low, IU predicts SA less strongly but is related to rumination. Conversely, IU in individuals with a high PES predicts SA more directly.

Conclusion: Rumination plays a mediating role between IU and SA, and the PES moderates the direct path and the first stage of the mediation model.

Keywords: college students; intolerance of uncertainty; moderated mediation model; pessimistic explanatory style; rumination; social anxiety.