The Effects of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Meaning in Life on Psychological and Physical Health

• Main Author: Morse, Jessica L
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2021
• Subjects: Behavioral psychology; Psychology
• ISBN: 9798544291060

Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a dispositional characteristic that informs how peoplethink about, feel, and behave in response to uncertainty. A growing research base suggests IU isa transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology (e.g. Koerner & Dugas, 2008; Carleton, 2012),yet few researchers have investigated IU as a risk factor for physical disease. The currentinvestigation adopted a new perspective from the Generalized Unsafety Theory of Stress (GUTS;Brosschot et al., 2016a, 2016b, 2018) to explain how high IU might perpetuate a sense ofgeneralized unsafety (GU), promoting chronic heightened physiological dysregulation that, overtime, impairs psychological and physical health. The current studies also examined a potentialprotective resource, Meaning in Life (MIL), as a buffer against the deleterious effects of IUbased on previous research indicating MIL provides a sense of safety and certainty that maycounter the effects of IU on GU and health. Structural equation modeling of the hypothesizedmoderated mediation wherein IU conveys risk for physical and psychological illness via GU(mediator), with MIL (moderator) buffering against this risk, did not yield significant indirecteffects in the three distinct samples tested. Moderation effects were significant in one sample,suggesting MIL may provide some protective benefit against GU for people high in IU.Additionally, results of hierarchical models support MIL’s role in protecting against negativepsychological consequences for high IU individuals. The discussion provides explanations of these results in the context of GUTS and suggestions for future empirical research to explore riskand protective factors in the development of physical and psychological illness.