An Investigation of Factors Associated with Cognitive Avoidance in Worry

Abstract

This study is an exploration of factors that may be contributing to cognitive avoidance, a proposed maintaining factor in worry and generalized anxiety disorder (Borkovec et al., in Heimberg et al. (Eds.), Generalized anxiety disorder: Advances in research and practice, 2004; Dugas et al., Behav Res Ther 36: 215-226, 1998). Two sets of worry-related processes, negative beliefs about worry and the fear of anxiety, were postulated to contribute to the use of cognitive avoidance strategies. Questionnaires were completed by 259 undergraduate students (67.1% female; mean age 23.33 years, SD = 5.27). All process measures, including cognitive avoidance, were correlated with generalized and catastrophic worry. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, both negative beliefs about worry and the fear of somatic symptoms of anxiety were found to predict cognitive avoidance. Implications for cognitive-behavioral models of generalized anxiety disorder are discussed.

Associations between Financial Avoidance, Emotional Distress, and Relationship Conflict Frequency in Emerging Adults in College

“…In the larger literature, cognitive avoidance is an outcome of worry and occurs in response to upsetting thoughts or emotions (Sibrava & Borkovec, 2006). Some scholars proposed that cognitive avoidance strategies are used to deflect these distressing thoughts (Koerner & Dugas, 2006;Sexton & Dugas, 2009). Applied to the financial realm, financial avoidance could be a way to deal with or avoid distressing thoughts about one's financial situation (Klontz et al, 2011).…”

Adaptación Para Buenos Aires De La Escala De Intolerancia a La Incertidumbre

“…La consistencia interna de la escala fue igual a .94 y la fiabilidad test-retest, con un intervalo de cinco semanas, .74 (Buhr & Dugas, 2002). Poste-riormente se estudió la estructura factorial de la escala en base a una muestra sustancialmente mayor que la anterior (Sexton & Dugas, 2009a). Se realizó un análisis factorial y una rotación con mé-todo Promax oblicuo y se identificó una estructura bifactorial.…”

“…En su conjunto, los resultados obtenidos con el estudio realizado son concordantes con los hallazgos de investigaciones anteriores (Buhr & Dugas, 2002;Sexton & Dugas, 2009a). En relación a las evidencias de validez concurrente de las puntuaciones de la EII, las correlaciones más altas se dieron entre la intolerancia a la incertidumbre y la ansiedad como rasgo y las preocupaciones.…”

Incurious Motives to Seek Information about Potential Threats

“…However, the dispositional factors that may increase the likelihood of engaging in information‐seeking about potential threats are unclear, and studies of the conditions that motivate individuals to actively seek such information have generally neglected to examine the role of personality variables very deeply if at all (Afifi et al, 2004; Beckjord, Rutten, Arora, Moser, & Bradford, 2008; Conley, Taylor, Kemeny, Cole, & Visscher, 1999). Related areas of research on dispositional worry and other expressions of distress have generally emphasized motives to avoid rather than approach information (Dugas, Freeston, & Ladouceur, 1997; Dugas, Gagnon, Ladouceur, & Freeston, 1998; Ladouceur, Gosselin, & Dugas, 2000; Krohne, 1993; Robichaud & Dugas, 2005; Sexton & Dugas, 2008, 2009), or have focused on situations that specifically involve social interaction rather than opportunities to obtain knowledge directly relevant to one's well‐being (Kashdan, Elhai, & Breen, 2007; Kashdan & Roberts, 2006; Renner, 2006). Importantly, none of these personality‐oriented studies have focused specifically on seeking information about potential threats to one's physical or psychological well‐being.…”