Responsibility attitude, obsession and compulsion: Further support in a non-clinical sample

Responsibility is one of the most investigated constructs in obsessive-comp ulsive disorder (OCD). Although there are an increasing number of studies o n this topic, results seem to be questionable. Whereas several authors repo rted a significant link between OC behaviour and responsibility in nonclini cal as well as in clinical samples, the findings of many authors failed to demonstrate the presence of such an association. In the current study, we e xamined the relationship between obsessive-compulsive behaviour and respons ibility. To this aim, participants filled in five inventories: the Responsi bility Attitude Scale (RAS), the Responsibility Questionnaire (RQ), the Pad ua Inventory Revised (PI-R), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results showed a relationship between obsessive-compulsive behaviour (PI-R scores) and responsibility, as measure d by both RAS and RQ. A principal component analysis showed that RAS can be interpreted as a four-factor scale, accounting for 63% of the variance ove rall. Regression analyses showed that responsibility can be considered a si gnificant predictor of obsession and compulsion behaviour, as measured by P I-R. Furthermore, showing a connection between specific factors of responsi bility and certain kinds of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, results seem to confirm the hypothesis that responsibility is more salient in checking tha n in cleaning symptoms. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.