The effects of safety behaviors on the fear of contamination: An experimental investigation
Abstract
The strategies used by anxious individuals to prevent feared outcomes, known as safety behaviors, are thought to maintain pathological anxiety by preventing the disconfirmation of inaccurate threat beliefs. However, it is possible that safety behaviors might also contribute to the development and exacerbation of anxiety symptoms. The present study tested this notion in a sample of undergraduate participants with either low (n=30) or high (n=26) levels of contamination fear. After a week-long baseline period, participants spent 1 week engaging in a clinically representative array of contamination-related safety behaviors on a daily basis, followed by a second baseline period. Subsequent to the safety behavior manipulation, participants evidenced statistically significant increases in threat overestimation, contamination fear symptoms, and emotional and avoidant responses to three contamination-related behavioral avoidance tasks (BATs). In contrast, anxiety and depressive symptoms remained stable. The magnitude of change in contamination concerns was equivalent among participants in both contamination fear groups. Our findings suggest that contamination-related safety behaviors elicit a modest and specific increase in the fear of contamination. Possible mechanisms for this effect, as well as implications for the role of safety behaviors in the psychopathology of anxiety disorders, are discussed.
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Safety behaviors contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders.
“the weight of the evidence shows that safety behaviors contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (e.g., Deacon & Maack, 2008; Olatunji et al., 2011).”
From Behavioral Experiments for Intolerance of Uncertainty: A Randomized Clinical Trial for Adults With Generalized Anxiety Disorder (2022) · cites this paper as Deacon & Maack, 2008
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- Authors
- Deacon, B., & Maack, D. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Wyoming (US)
- Corresponding author
- Deacon, Brett
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-04
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 537-547
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2076565367
- Cited by
- 174
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 5.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- safety behavior, fear of contamination, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, behavioral avoidance, anxiety maintenance, threat beliefs, anxiety disorders
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Anxiety, Attitude to Health, Avoidance Learning, Fear, Female, Humans, Hygiene, Male, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychometrics
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