Fathers' “not just right experiences” predict obsessive–compulsive symptoms in their sons: Family study of a non-clinical Italian sample

Abstract

The heart of the obsessional process may be considered the subject's underlying impression that -something is wrong‖. Therefore, the phenomenon labeled -not just right experiences‖ (NJREs) has increasingly been receiving attention since it captures the subjective sense that -something isn't just as it should be‖. In the present study we sought to add to the evidence that NJREs may be a putative psychological marker of OCD. To this aim, measures of NJREs, obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms and OC-related cognitions were completed by 382 undergraduates (43.2% females), 318 mothers and 288 fathers. NJREs correlations between parents and children were typically in the small-medium range of magnitude and comparable to correlations both for OC beliefs and symptoms. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that fathers' (but not mothers') NJREs predicted OC symptomatology in their sons even when parents' anxiety symptoms and their level of OC-related beliefs were controlled. This relationship generally also held for single symptom dimensions such as washing, checking, ordering, and mental neutralizing symptoms. On the contrary, none of parents' psychological variables considered in the present study predicted OC symptoms in daughters. The possible role of NJREs as a marker of OCD is discussed.

“Not Just Right Experiences” are specific to obsessive–compulsive disorder: Further evidence from Italian clinical samples

“…As a matter of fact, in most of studies on nonclinical samples, as many as 80% or more of the participants reported such experiences on the NJRE-Q-R (Coles et al, 2003;Cougle et al, 2011;Ghisi et al, 2010;Sica et al, 2013). In addition, in all studies where the NJRE-Q-R severity has been used, the correlation between this measure and the OC symptoms was in the moderate range (e.g., Coles et al, 2003: around .45;Ghisi et al, 2010: .42;current study: from .46 to .56).…”

“…The evidence of an association between NJREs and OCD or OC symptoms appears robust so far (for a review, see Sica, Caudek, Chiri, Ghisi, & Marchetti, 2012;Sica et al, 2013;Taylor et al, 2014). On the other hand, only a few studies provided data about the specificity of this construct to OCD or OC symptoms.…”

“…Since Summerfeldt (2004) proposed that NJREs are unique to obsessive-compulsive phenomena and Sica et al (2013) posited that NJREs may be investigated as a psychological marker of the disorder (i.e., a feature possibly reflecting vulnerability for OCD), it is important to devise studies expressly aimed at establishing the specificity of NJREs to OCD or OC symptoms.…”

The Sense of Incompleteness as a Motivator of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms: An Empirical Analysis of Concepts and Correlates

“…Data from 16 samples ( N =5,940 participants) were included in the meta-analysis (Chik, Calamari, Rector, & Rieman, 2010; Coles et al (2003, Studies 1 and 2, based on different samples); Coles, Heimberg, Frost, & Steketee, 2005; Cougle, Fitch, Jacobson, & Lee, 2013 (Study 2); Cougle, Goetz, Fitch, & Hawkins, 2011; Cruz-Fuentes, Blas, Gonzalez, Camarena, & Nicolini, 2004; Ecker & Gönner (2008, 2011 with each study reporting different correlational data); Ghisi, Chiri, Marchetti, Sanavio, & Sica, 2010; Neal & Cavanna, 2013; Olatunji, Unoka, Beran, David, & Armstrong, 2009; Pietrefesa & Coles, 2008; Sica et al, 2013; Sica, Caudek, Chiri, Ghisi, & Marchetti, 2012; Sparrow, 2009; Summerfeldt, 2006). The correlations extracted from these studies along with other details on included and excluded samples appear in Appendices A and B.…”

Dysfunctional beliefs about health and illness: A family study

“…En consecuencia, y según las teorías cognitivo-conductuales, las creencias que mantienen los padres, pero no las madres, podrían constituir un factor de vulnerabilidad para el desarrollo de síntomas hipocondríacos en sus descendientes. Resultados similares fueron encontrados en estudios sobre el trastorno obsesivocompulsivo, donde se analizó la relación entre las creencias de los progenitores y sus descendientes, en relación a las experiencias "not just right" (Sica et al, 2013) o la "looming vulnerability" (Riskind, Sica, Bottesi, Ghisi, y Kashdan, 2017). En estos estudios se observó que las creencias de los padres jugaban un papel más relevante que las de las madres en la predicción de las creencias de sus descendientes.…”