Disgust sensitivity predicts obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms above and beyond anxiety sensitivity and negative affectivity

Abstract

Introduction and aims

Both anxiety sensitivity (AS) and negative affect (NA) are significant general predictors of anxiety disorders, including the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; Taylor, 1999). Recently, our group reported preliminary findings suggesting that disgust sensitivity was able to predict OCD symptoms, particularly contamination obsessions and washing compulsions, when controlling for AS and NA (Sandín et al., 2008). The present study examines whether disgust domains of the Cuestionario de Sensibilidad al Asco (CSA) [Disgust Sensitivity Questionnaire] predict obsessive-compulsive symptoms above and beyond AS and NA.

Method

A sample of undergraduates completed the CSA (see Valiente et al.), the Padua Inventory-Whasington State University Revision (Burns et al., 1996), the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (Taylor et al., 2007; Sandín et al., 2007), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988, Sandín et al., 1999).

Results

Hierarchic regression analysis revealed that CSA was a better predictor of contamination obsessions and washing compulsions than anxiety sensitivity and negative affect. Also, CSA domains predicted differentially each obsessive-compulsive dimension.

Conclusions

Contamination-based OCD symptoms appears to be particularly associated to disgust sensitivity, specially with the CSA dimension of hygiene (it includes items such as “Seeing someone spit”, Touching the clothes of a beggar or homeless”). Assuming that contamination-based OCD is a very prevalent type of OCD, future studies on implication of this dimension in its development and/or maintenance is warranted.