Clarifying the unique associations among intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety, and depression^*

^*Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Philadelphia, PA, USA, November, 2014, and Chicago, IL, USA, November, 2015.

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that intolerance of uncertainty (IU) may be a transdiagnostic factor across the anxiety disorders, and to a lesser extent, unipolar depression. Whereas anxiety inherently involves uncertainty regarding threat, depression has traditionally been associated with certainty (e.g. the hopelessness theory of depression). Some theorists posit that the observed relationship between depression and IU may be due to the relationship between depression and anxiety and the relationship between anxiety and IU. The present study sought to elucidate the unique relationships among trait anxiety, depression, and IU in undergraduate (N = 554) and clinical (generalized anxiety disorder; N = 43) samples. Findings suggest that IU may play a larger role in anxiety than depression, although some evidence indicates that inhibitory IU and depression may have a modest but independent relationship.

Keywords:

• Intolerance of uncertainty
• IU
• transdiagnostic
• anxiety
• depression
• comorbidity

Notes

^* Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Philadelphia, PA, USA, November, 2014, and Chicago, IL, USA, November, 2015.

1. Analyses in the undergraduate sample were conducted with and without controlling for racial minority status. No differences in results emerged. Thus, analyses without controlling for the race are reported herein. A detailed report of the analyses controlling for race in the undergraduate sample is available upon request.