Disgust propensity and sensitivity: Differential relationships with obsessive-compulsive symptoms and behavioral approach task performance

•Disgust propensity and sensitivity are differentially associated with anxiety disorder symptoms.•Propensity is clearly associated with self-reported washing symptoms and behavioral performance.•Propensity is more likely associated with actions intended to avoid repugnant materials whereas sensitivity is associated with general negative emotions and sensitivities.

Research indicates that disgust propensity (DP; the tendency to respond with disgust) and disgust sensitivity (DS; the tendency to experience disgust as aversive) are differentially correlated and predictive of specific anxiety disorder symptoms. Based on this distinction, we sought to investigate the relationship of disgust indices to specific obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms in a large, non-clinical sample (N=755). DP significantly predicted washing symptoms even after controlling for the influence of gender, negative effect and anxiety sensitivity, whereas DS did not. Additionally, in a subset of participants (N=152) we examined the indices of DP and DS in the prediction of in vivo disgust and avoidance on a contamination-based behavioral approach task (BAT) while controlling for the aforementioned covariates and OC symptoms. Analyses revealed that elevated DP significantly predicted heightened disgust and greater behavioral avoidance on the BAT. Our data suggest important conceptual and phenomenological differences between the two disgust constructs: DP is more associated with avoidant action tendencies to repugnant materials whereas DS is linked with more general emotional sensitivity.