Relationship between Intolerance of Uncertainty and Psychological Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Mindfulness

Headnote

Abstract

The current study aimed to examine the mediating role of mindfulness in the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and psychological wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants comprised 380 adults in Turkey. Data were collected through the Turkish adaptations of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale, the Flourishing Scale, and the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scales. Results from conducting bootstrapped mediation analysis indicated that mindfulness mediated the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and psychological wellbeing among adults in Turkey. Importantly, the previously significant relationship of intolerance of uncertainty with psychological wellbeing became non-significant once mindfulness was included in the hypothesized model. The findings and some implications were discussed in the context of pandemic psychology.

Keywords:

Intolerance of Uncertainty, Psychological Wellbeing, Mindfulness, COVID-19 Pandemic.

Öz

Bu çalismanin amaci COVID-19 pandemisi sirasinda belirsizlige tahammülsüzlük ve psikolojik iyi olus arasindaki iliskide bilinçli farkindaligin araci rolünü incelemektir. Çalismaya Türkiye'den 380 yetiskin katilmistir. Veriler, Belirsizlige Tahammülsüzlük Ölçegi, Psikolojik Iyi Olus Ölçegi ve Bilinçli Farkindalik Ölçegi'nin Türkçe uyarlamalari ile toplanmistir. Regresyon temelli arabuluculuk analizi sonuçlariyla, Türkiye'deki yetiskinler arasinda bilinçli farkindaligin belirsizlige tahammülsüzlük ve psikolojik iyi olus arasindaki iliskiye aracilik ettigini bulunmustur. Çalismanin en önemli sonucu olarak, bilinçli farkindalik hipotez modele dahil edildiginde, belirsizlige tahammülsüzlügün psikolojik iyi olus ile önceden önemli olan iliskisi önemsiz hale gelmistir. Bulgular ve bazi çikarimlar pandemi temelli psikoloji baglaminda tartisilmistir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Belirsizlige karsi tahammülsüzlük, Psikolojik iyi Olus, bilinçli farkindalik, COVID-19 pandemisi.

Introduction

The new coronavirus (2019-n CoV: COVID-19) created a global health threat by spreading across the world in a very short time and evolved into a pandemic on March 2020 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020a). The COVID-19 pandemic, which has spread quickly since its first appearance and has caused almost 60 million people to become ill, threatens both the psychological and physical health of societies around the world (Holmes et al., 2020). Shevlin et al. (2020) stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous effect, which could lead to a possible collective trauma. Countries have implemented various quarantine practices by taking social isolation precautions to minimize the effect of the pandemic, protect public health, and reduce the spread of the virus (Remuzzi & Remuzzi 2020; Turkish Ministry of Health, 2020; Wang et al., 2020a; WHO, 2020b). In addition to the practices of governments,...