Intolerance of uncertainty and mindfulness as determinants of anxiety and depression in female students.

Background: Intolerance of uncertainty is most commonly defined as the tendency to be afraid of the unknown and react negatively when faced with ambiguous everyday situations. It interferes with problem solving because it leads an individual to impulsive behaviour which decreases uncertainty but does not solve the problem. Even though it is mostly considered as an important factor in anxiety disorders, studies have shown that intolerance of uncertainty is a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor for the development and maintenance of both anxiety and depression. One construct that emerges as being potentially beneficial for psychological health of both clinical and non-clinical samples, and is negatively associated with intolerance of uncertainty, is mindfulness. Therefore, we sought to examine the contribution of intolerance of uncertainty and mindfulness in explaining the symptoms of depression and anxiety in a sample of college students.Method: 282 female college students aged 21 participated in the study. In order to assess these constructs, we used three scales which were administered online: Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale.Findings: Results have shown that students were on average intolerant of uncertainty and mindful. We found that students had moderate levels of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, the results of two hierarchical regression analyses have shown that intolerance of uncertainty and mindfulness significantly predict anxiety and depression in female students. In fact, results of HRA have shown that relation between intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety/depression in female students was partially mediated by mindfulness.Discussion: Taken together, we can conclude that individualsu00b4 inability to stay calm when faced with uncertainty can predict onset of anxiety/depression and that this process is partially due to their inability to decentre from negative thoughts and sensations. These findings have practical implication for Student Counselling Centres which can promote mindfulness training and offer workshops on how students can develop tolerance of uncertainty.