(PS4-C51) The Relationship Between Flood Exposure and Anxiety: Examining the Role of Emotional Reactivity and Intolerance of Uncertainty

Natural disasters are common, with flooding being the most frequent, and are associated with negative outcomes. Some individuals do not develop psychological symptoms after trauma exposure; thus, it is important to identify protective and potentiating factors, including intolerance of uncertainty and emotional reactivity. Uncertainty has been demonstrated as a powerful stressor; however, the perception of stress due to uncertainty varies among individuals Intolerance of uncertainty has been defined as an individual’s tendency to think of uncertain events as aversive or dangerous regardless of the probability of occurrence and associated consequences. Emotional reactivity (ER) refers to emotion sensitivity, intensity, and persistence. The current study investigated whether emotional reactivity and intolerance of uncertainty would together serve as potentiating factors for the association between flood exposure and anxiety in adults, controlling for previous trauma exposure (i.e., sexual abuse/assault, physical abuse/assault). It was hypothesized that, among those who reported more negative sequelae following a flood, participants who endorsed both greater emotional reactivity and greater intolerance of uncertainty would endorse more anxiety symptoms compared to participants who endorsed less emotional reactivity and more tolerance of uncertainty. Participants were 162 adults (M_age = 20.03, SD = 4.28) who experienced a significant flood in August 2016. The majority were women (n = 111, 68.5%). Participants completed online questionnaires assessing flood exposure severity, emotional reactivity, intolerance of uncertainty, previous trauma history, and symptoms of anxiety. As predicted, the three-way interaction between flood exposure, emotional reactivity, and intolerance of uncertainty was significant with anxiety as the outcome variable. First, flood exposure was not associated with anxiety for participants with both low emotional reactivity and low intolerance of uncertainty. Levels of anxiety were in the low range regardless of flood exposure. As predicted, being less emotional reactive and being able to tolerate uncertainty interacted to protect those with significant flood exposure. Second, flood exposure was also not associated with anxiety among participants with both high emotional reactivity and high intolerance of uncertainty. These individuals reported levels of anxiety within the severe range regardless of flood exposure. This is contrary to the hypothesis in that flood exposure was not associated with greater anxiety among these participants. Third, flood exposure was associated with greater anxiety only among those who reported either high emotional reactivity or high intolerance of uncertainty, but not both. Levels of anxiety were in the moderate to severe range for those who endorsed greater flood exposure and within the low range for those who endorse less flood exposure. This study extends the literature by focusing specifically on flood sequelae, whereas other studies combine natural disasters and general trauma.  This study also controls for previous trauma exposure.