Intolerance of uncertainty as a central influence on social media use : A school-based program for adolescents

Journal article


Einstein, Danielle A., McMaugh, Anne, Rapee, Ronald M., McEvoy, Peter, Fraser, Madeleine I., Abbott, Maree, Mansell, Warren and Karin, Eyal. (2024). Intolerance of uncertainty as a central influence on social media use : A school-based program for adolescents. Prevention Science. 25(8), pp. 1238-1249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-024-01738-y
AuthorsEinstein, Danielle A., McMaugh, Anne, Rapee, Ronald M., McEvoy, Peter, Fraser, Madeleine I., Abbott, Maree, Mansell, Warren and Karin, Eyal
Abstract

This study evaluated a classroom program to address Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) in secondary school students in Australia. IU is a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor for a range of psychological difficulties. A universal classroom program aimed to increase student understanding of feelings of uncertainty and explored socioemotional factors that could influence behaviors when facing uncertainty. Classroom teachers in two high schools were trained to deliver an 18-lesson program under naturalistic classroom conditions. Relative to the control group, the intervention lowered IU at post-test, but not at a later follow-up. The only socioemotional outcome measure to demonstrate a concurrent change was social media use. Limitations of the study were associated with the naturalistic classroom intervention, including the high level of attrition. Future studies may need to address broader factors in the students’ context that could influence intolerance of uncertainty.

Keywordsintolerance of uncertainty; adolescents; cognitive behaviour therapy; ACT; universal prevention; transdiagnostic
Year2024
JournalPrevention Science
Journal citation25 (8), pp. 1238-1249
PublisherSpringer
ISSN1573-6695
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-024-01738-y
PubMed ID39453525
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85207365008
PubMed Central IDPMC11652582
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range1238-1249
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online25 Oct 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted23 Sep 2024
Deposited08 May 2025
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© The Author(s) 2024.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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