Understanding Mental Contamination: Relationships with Scrupulosity, Thought Action Fusion, and Perfectionism

Mental contamination (MC) refers to the experience of physical dirtiness without contact with a physical contaminant. Despite its importance as a psychological construct, little is known about MC, its predictors, or how to treat it. Accordingly, the present study explores relationships between MC and hypothesized related constructs: perfectionism, scrupulosity, and thought-action fusion (TAF). Undergraduate students enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who reported having an experience of MC (n = 111) completed the self-report study measures through Qualtrics. In line with hypotheses, MC was significantly positively correlated with (a) maladaptive perfectionism but not adaptive perfectionism, (b) scrupulosity but not religiosity, and (c) likelihood TAF. Contrary to hypotheses, MC was not associated with moral TAF. When all variables were included in a simultaneous regression, they cumulatively accounted for 26% of the variance in MC symptoms. Likelihood TAF, Moral TAF, and maladaptive perfectionism emerged as significant unique predictors. Clinical implications regarding the study and treatment of mental contamination as well as study limitations will also be discussed.Bachelor of Art