The Relationship Between Mind Wandering and Vulnerability of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Self-Regulation as a Moderator

Abstract

There is a scarcity of studies that have focused on studying individuals targeted for suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, as it has been found that these individuals have high levels of mental wandering, or more precisely, they are preoccupied with thinking about a group of ideas that are completely far removed from the current moment in which they are living, and they cannot ignore such ideas, except In the presence of high levels of self-regulation, which prompts them to reduce their involvement with these distracting thoughts and thus reduce the issuance of compulsive behaviors as a result of thinking about them. Purpose: The current study hypothesized that self-regulation modifies the relationship between mind wandering and vulnerability of obsessive-compulsive disorder among university students. Method: Forty-five university students (37 females and 8 males) aged between 18-30 years (Mean = 22.58, S.D =3.306). The students completed The Four Factors of Mind Wandering Questionnaire (4FMWQ), The Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ) and Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). Results: The absence of a modifying role of self-regulation in the relationship between Mind Wandering and Vulnerability of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Conclusion: This prompts further future studies to determine the nature of the interaction between mind wandering and self-regulation and the role of this interaction in determining the level of vulnerability of obsessive-compulsive disorder.