The role of looming cognitive style in health anxiety through the mediation of anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty

Looming cognitive style is conceptualized as a distal cognitive vulnerability to anxiety and symptoms of anxiety disorders. Health anxiety is a type of anxiety, and the present study aims to test whether looming cognitive style is related to health anxiety through the mediation of anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty. In this cross-sectional study, the data of 241 adult participants whose ages were between 18 and 65 years (M = 25.5, SD = 7.73) were analyzed. Four self-report measures were administered, which were the Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire-Revised, Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3, Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale, and Short Health Anxiety Inventory. The data were analyzed with a mediation model. Analyses indicated that looming cognitive style was significantly, positively, and indirectly associated with health anxiety. This relation was observed through the mediation of anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty after controlling for the effect of having a diagnosis of a chronic illness or a psychological disorder since health anxiety scores of participants were found to differ depending on the levels of these variables in the preliminary analyses. Findings suggest that looming cognitive style is potentially a distal cognitive vulnerability to health anxiety, and this finding is compatible with what the etiological model of looming cognitive style suggested. Considering the results, looming cognitive style might be a contributing cognitive process to work on in treating health anxiety.