International Journal of Psychology, 2014 DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12041 The mediating role of disgust sensitivity and thought-action fusion between religiosity and obsessive compulsive symptoms Mujgan Inozu 1 , Fulya Ozcanli Ulukut 2 , Gokce Ergun, and Gillian M. Alcolado 3 1 Department of Psychology, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey 2 Department of Psychology, Suleyman Sah University, Istanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada P sychological theories of obsessions and compulsions have long recognised that strict religious codes and moral standards might promote thought-action fusion (TAF) appraisals. These appraisals have been implicated in the transformation of normally occurring intrusions into clinically distressing obsessions. Furthermore, increased disgust sensitivity has also been reported to be associated with obsessive compulsive (OC) symptoms. No research, however, has investigated the mediating roles of TAF and disgust sensitivity between religiosity and OC symptoms. This study was composed of 244 undergraduate students who completed measures of OC symptoms, TAF, disgust sensitivity, religiosity and negative effect. Analyses revealed that the relationship between religiosity and OC symptoms was mediated by TAF and disgust sensitivity. More importantly, the mediating role of TAF was not different across OC symptom subtypes, whereas the mediating role of disgust sensitivity showed different patterns across OC symptom subtypes. These findings indicate that the tendency for highly religious Muslims to experience greater OC symptoms is related to their heightened beliefs about disgust sensitivity and the importance of thoughts. Keywords: Religiosity; TAF; Disgust sensitivity; OC symptoms. Psychological theories of obsessions and compulsions have long suggested that strict religious codes and moral standards may play an important role in the transformation of normally occurring intrusive thoughts into clinically distressing obsessions. Purportedly, this occurs because strong personal meaning is attached to the content and occurrence of intrusive thoughts (Rachman, 1997). Research has demonstrated that degree of religious devotion is positively associated with obsessive compulsive (OC) symptoms and beliefs (Abramowitz, Deacon, Woods, & Tolin, 2004; Inozu, Karanci, & Clark, 2012; Yorulmaz, Genc ¸¨ oz, & Woody, 2009). The factors responsible for these elevated OC symptoms in highly religious individuals are, however, largely unknown. It is still not clear whether different or common factors are responsible for the positive association between religiosity and OC symptoms across different religions (e.g. Islam and Christianity). Current cognitive behavioural theories of obsessions (Rachman, 1997; Salkovskis, 1985) propose that normal Correspondence should be addressed to Mujgan Inozu, Department of Psychology, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Golkoy, Bolu, Turkey. (E-mail: mujganinozu@ibu.edu.tr). intrusions transform into frequent and distressing obsessions when individuals misinterpret the presence of these thoughts. They interpret their occurrence as highly significant cues that portend dire consequences for themselves or others, unless they act to cease these disturbed thoughts. Therefore, cognitive behavioural theories of obsessions emphasise the importance of erroneous interpretations and negative meaning assigned to the presence and content of such intrusive thoughts. These theories suggest that specific kinds of dysfunctional beliefs (e.g. intolerance of uncertainty, importance and control of thoughts, inflated sense of responsibility and perfectionism) play an important role in the aetiology and/or maintenance of OC symptoms. Thought-action fusion (TAF) is one of a number of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-related faulty beliefs. It refers to a set of cognitive biases involving faulty causal relationships between one’s own thoughts and external reality. Within the concept of TAF, two different types of TAF have been identified: (a) TAF likelihood, the belief that the © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science