Ambivalent self-concept and feared self mediates the relationship between negative early life experiences and obsessive-compulsive symptoms

The feared self, the self that a person fears they might be or become, has been increasingly shown to drive the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, there is little empirical research on how this feared self develops. Aardema and Wong's cognitive-behavioural theory of OCD proposes that negative early life experiences (e.g., childhood trauma) can disrupt healthy self-concept development, leading to an ambivalent self-concept and the feared self, and consequently OCD symptoms. We investigated these hypothesised relationships using a cross-sectional design and online self-report with non-clinical participants (N = 242). Data was analysed using path analysis which indicated multiple significant indirect effects. Self-reported experiences of authoritarian parenting and negative perceptions of pubertal timing significantly predicted greater OCD symptom severity through self-ambivalence and the corrupted feared self. These findings suggest that certain negative early life experiences could be associated with OCD symptoms through its effects on self-concepts.