Shenakht Journal of Psychology & Psychiatry

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of thought-action fusion, emotion dysregulation and repetitive negative thoughts in the prediction of worry Method: According to the current research design (correlation), the Pearson correlation and the multiple regression methods was used. 343 students from the Kharazmi University were selected by a convenience sampling method and then completed the Thought Fusion Inventory (TFI), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Strategies Scale (DERS), the Repetitive Negative Thoughts Questionnaire and the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ).

Results: The results showed that thought-action fusion, repetitive negative thoughts and emotion dysregulation variables had a significant and positive correlation with worry (p<0.01). The stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that the variation of worry can be explained by difficulty in emotion regulation (25%) at the first step as well as repetitive negative thoughts and difficulty in emotion regulation (31%) at the second step. Also, the thought-action fusion excluded from this model.

Conclusion: According to the results, it was indicated that Emotion Dysregulation and Repetitive Negative Thoughts have been able to predict worry and this results can be considered a step towards a better understanding of the nature of the worry.