title: Self-Based Concepts and Obsessive-Compulsive Phenomena.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Using a cognitive framework, this paper examined self-perceptions as a vulnerability to phenomena in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Specifically, Guidano and Liotti's model of self-ambivalence (from 1983) and the notion of self-worth contingent upon moral standards were investigated as possible mechanisms to explain how individuals come to notice their unwanted intrusions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using an analogue framework, participants were first-year undergraduate psychology students (95 females, mean age = 22.49 years, SD = 7.96, and 25 males, mean age = 21.64 years, SD = 7.26) who were administered a battery of self-report questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated that self-ambivalence moderated the relationship between high moral standards and obsessive-compulsive (OC) phenomena; individuals who had high moral standards and high self-ambivalence showed increased OC vulnerability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that ambivalence about moral self-worth may constitute a particular vulnerability to OC symptoms. Directions for future research are discussed and implications of the findings explored.
authors.affiliation: Swinburne University of Technology, Deakin University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ahern
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kyrios
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moulding
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D057565:Apathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult