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Metacognitive beliefs and strategies predict worry, obsessive–compulsive symptoms and coping styles: A preliminary prospective study on an Italian non‐clinical sample
Author(s) -
Sica Claudio,
Steketee Gail,
Ghisi Marta,
Chiri Luigi Rocco,
Franceschini Sandro
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/cpp.520
Subject(s) - worry , psychology , metacognition , coping (psychology) , distraction , clinical psychology , multilevel model , cognition , cognitive style , developmental psychology , anxiety , psychiatry , cognitive psychology , machine learning , computer science
Eighty undergraduate students completed the Italian versions of the Metacognition Questionnaire and Thought Control Questionnaire along with well‐established measures of worry, obsessive–compulsive symptoms and coping styles on two occasions four months apart. A series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling the initial level of both worry and obsessionality, negative beliefs about worry focused on uncontrollability and danger appeared consistently associated with worry and obsessive symptoms at a four‐month distance. In addition, positive beliefs about worry predicted maladaptive coping styles whereas cognitive self‐consciousness and thought strategies aimed at distraction appeared to foster or facilitate adaptive coping styles. Results, implications and limitations are discussed according to Well's metacognitive model of emotional disorders. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.