Individual differences in metacognitive knowledge contribute to psychological vulnerability more than the presence of a mental disorder does

Abstract

Psychological vulnerability can be operationalized as trait-anxiety, the stable tendency to experience anxiety and negative affect when exposed to stress. The current study set out to test whether metacognitive beliefs could be an underlying factor explaining variance in trait-anxiety when the presence of psychopathology is controlled. Participants reported mental health status and completed self-report measures. Our findings showed that multiple domains of metacognitive beliefs accounted for an additional 44.9 per cent of the variance in trait anxiety after the presence of diagnosed psychopathology was controlled. The implication of this finding is that the metacognitive model may advance conceptualization of trait anxiety and provide effective interventions for modifying psychological vulnerabilities.