(PS2-76) Fear-of-self Mediates Relationship Between LGBTQ+ Identity and OC Symptoms

Posited by the inference-based approach, fear-of-self is defined as a fear of having or developing negative emotional, behavioral, or cognitive characteristics (Aardema & O’Connor, 2007). Aardema and Wong (2020) hypothesize that fear-of-self may be a causal mechanism in the development of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. Despite research suggesting that LGBTQ+ individuals may experience elevated OC symptoms via the unacceptable thoughts dimension (Pinciotti & Orcutt, 2021), no study has examined the relationship between fear-of-self and OC symptoms among LGBTQ+ individuals. To address this gap, the current study evaluated whether fear-of-self mediates the relationship between LGBTQ+ identity and OC symptoms.

Participants (n = 217) were well-rated Mechanical Turk workers who identified as LGBTQ+ (n = 107) or non-LGBTQ+ (n = 110). Participants completed a questionnaire battery, including the Fear-of-Self Questionnaire (FSQ) and the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS). The following analyses report on all participants with complete data.

A simple mediation analysis was conducted utilizing the PROCESS Macro Version 4 for SPSS. It revealed that the FSQ partially mediated the relationship between LGBTQ+ identity and DOCS Total scores. Participants who identified as LGBTQ+ endorsed higher FSQ scores than individuals who did not identify as LGBTQ+ (path a: B = 5.99, p < .001). Additionally, participants who endorsed higher FSQ scores also endorsed higher DOCS Total scores (path b: B = 1.39, p < .001). Finally, participants who identified as LGBTQ+ endorsed higher DOCS Total scores (path c: B = 12.41, p < .001). Whereas the estimated direct effect of LGBTQ+ identity accounted for a significant portion of the total effect (path c’: B = 4.09, p < .05), a 95% bootstrap confidence interval for the indirect effect (path ab: B = 8.32) based on 5,000 bootstrap samples was above zero [4.92, 12.18]. These combined results support partial mediation. Given the findings from Pinciotti and Orcutt (2021), an additional analysis targeted whether FSQ mediated the specific association between LGBTQ+ identity and the DOCS Unacceptable Thoughts subscale. The results (path a: B = 6.24, path b: B = .36, path c: B = 3.14, ps < .001; path c’: B = .89, p = .07; path ab: B = 2.25, 95% CI [1.36, 3.23]) support full mediation. Whereas the primary focus of this presentation is on the observed relevance of unacceptable thoughts, the proposed presentation will report parallel findings for each of the DOCS subscales.

These results reveal that fear-of-self partially mediates the relationship between LGBTQ+ identity and broad OC symptoms—and fully mediates the relationship between LGBTQ+ identity and unacceptable thoughts symptoms. The proposed presentation aims to shed light on a relatively understudied aspect of OC symptom experience and elevate the topic to a broad ABCT audience. It is critical to understand the causal mechanisms underlying the higher prevalence of OC symptoms in the LGBTQ+ community. Only then will we be able to begin to address / reduce the extent to which sexual and gender minorities are disproportionately burdened in this domain.