Is Ignorance bliss? Information Seeking, Intolerance of Uncertainty and Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has upended adolescents’ lives around the world. Adolescents with a higher intolerance of uncertainty are at greater risk for anxiety (Osmanağaoğlu et al., 2018), making them especially vulnerable during the pandemic when uncertainty is rampant. Adolescents may be feeling uncertain about what the virus is and how to protect themselves from it, how contracting the virus might affect them or their loved ones, how school closures might impact their schooling and extracurricular activities, and how social distancing mandates might affect their relationships with friends. Information seeking behaviors (e.g., watching the news, talking about the virus) may exacerbate feelings of anxiety by increasing uncertainty around the pandemic through the receipt of conflicting information (Brashers et al., 2000). The purpose of this study was to investigate the moderating role of information seeking on the association between intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety in adolescent girls during the COVID-19 pandemic using a daily diary assessment.
Methods: Ninety-three adolescent girls (Mage = 15.01, SD = 1.21) were recruited from a larger longitudinal study examining the development of depression and anxiety in girls oversampled for shy and fearful temperament. Participants were recruited for a follow-up study in April/May of 2020, approximately three weeks after the start of stay-at-home orders in [masked state]. Participants completed the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale for Children (Comer et al., 2009) online through Qualtrics, followed by a 10-day daily diary assessment. Daily diary questions asked about time spent information seeking (i.e., researching, talking or thinking about the virus), and general anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms, adapted from the GAD-7 scale (Spitzer et al., 2006).
Results: A multilevel model was run using the lme4 package in R-4.0.2 to examine within- and between-person associations between intolerance of uncertainty, information seeking and GAD symptoms over the 10-day daily diary period. At the between-person level, intolerance of uncertainty was significantly and positively associated with GAD symptoms (t(125)=3.97, p<.001). At the within-person level, information seeking was significantly associated with daily GAD symptoms (t(702)=2.05, p=.041), such that adolescents reported more GAD symptoms on days when they engaged in information seeking. Lastly, the interaction between information seeking and intolerance of uncertainty was not significant (p=.334).
Discussion: Consistent with previous literature, we found that adolescents with higher intolerance of uncertainty reported more GAD symptoms throughout the daily diary period. Furthermore, individuals experienced more GAD symptoms on days when they engaged in information seeking. Surprisingly, engaging in information seeking did not affect the association between intolerance of uncertainty and GAD symptoms. Given how much is unknown about the virus and course of the pandemic, one possibility could be that engaging in information seeking did not provide youth with much certainty (or additional uncertainty), thus it neither diminished nor exacerbated the effects of intolerance of uncertainty on GAD. This study underscores how important intolerance of uncertainty is to address for individuals experiencing GAD symptoms. It may be beneficial to promote the use of skills that target intolerance of uncertainty to mitigate the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authors

• Celine Lu, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Stefanie Sequeira, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kirsten M.P. McKone, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cecile D Ladouceur, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer S. Silk, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author