Habitual, but not momentary, avoidance strategy use moderates the association between disgust sensitivity and affective response to a disgust-inducing film clip

Abstract

Habitually avoiding disgust-eliciting stimuli may lead to a stronger connection between negative appraisals (i.e., disgust sensitivity) and experiences of disgust. We tested if the use of experiential avoidance or expressive suppression moderated the association between disgust sensitivity and disgust ratings. Sixty-seven female undergraduate students reported disgust sensitivity and their habitual use of experiential avoidance and expressive suppression. Participants viewed a disgust-eliciting video and reported disgust levels before and after. The interactions between disgust sensitivity and habitual experiential avoidance, B = .14, SE = .06, p = .03, 95% CI [.02, .26], and disgust sensitivity and habitual expressive suppression, B = 1.09, SE = .53, p = .046, 95% CI [.02, 2.15], were significant. At low levels of these strategies, there was no association between disgust sensitivity and disgust ratings, whereas at high levels of these strategies, there was a positive association. There were no significant interactions when predicting anxiety ratings. We discuss these results in terms of behavioral conditioning theories.