Incremental specificity of disgust sensitivity in the prediction of obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms: Cross-sectional and prospective approaches

The present study examines the association between disgust sensitivity (DS) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms in two non-clinical samples. Findings from Study 1 (n = 270) revealed a significant association between DS and OCD symptoms even after controlling for negative affect and anxiety sensitivity. Subsequent analysis also revealed a specific association between DS and the washing subtype of OCD symptoms when controlling for other OCD symptom dimensions. DS did not significantly predict residual change in total symptoms of OCD over a 12-week period (n = 300) when controlling for risk factors for anxiety disorder symptoms in general (e.g., negative affect, anxiety sensitivity) and OCD specifically (e.g., obsessive beliefs) in Study 2. However, exploratory analyses suggest that DS may be predictive of residual change in some OCD symptom subtypes but not others. Implications of these findings for future research on the role of disgust in OCD are discussed.