title: Exploring the role of metacognition in obsessive--compulsive and anxiety symptoms.
abstract: This study tests three hypotheses, predicting first that metacognition is highly correlated with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive (O-C) symptoms, second that it mediates the relationship between O-C symptoms and anxiety, and third that the meta-cognitive predictors of anxiety are different from the meta-cognitive predictors of O-C symptoms. The sample of the present study was 850 students selected from various universities in Turkey. Significant correlations between metacognition, O-C symptoms and anxiety were observed. Also, mediation analysis confirmed that metacognition fully mediated the relationship between O-C symptoms and anxiety. Consistent with our hypothesis, trait anxiety and O-C symptoms had different meta-cognitive predictors. Although, we expected that meta-cognitive beliefs would vary based on the sub-type of O-C symptoms, meta-cognitive beliefs did not differ according to the O-C symptom subtypes. We discussed results with reference to the literature of meta-cognition, anxiety and O-C symptoms.
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, ON, K1Z 7K4, Canada. metehan.irak@rohcg.on.ca
authors.forename: Metehan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irak
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tosun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001364:Awareness; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011336:Probability; D011594:Psychometrics; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking; D014421:Turkey