Intolerance of Uncertainty and Defense Styles in Young Adults

Uncertainty is nothing but not knowing what lies ahead of any human, it is not knowing the future. Uncertainty is a very subjective, cognitive experience. Uncertainty can be caused due to an “unpredictability” of the future, unpredictability of the consequences of an action, and awaited result, mostly wherever a risk lies. Defense Mechanisms are projective techniques, they work at more of an unconscious state of mind. They are automatic in nature. They are used to protect the ego and lessen the anxiety of individual. The present paper aims to study the relationship between Intolerance of Uncertainty and Defense Styles. Both these variables are an integral part of our daily lives and are brought to use unconsciously. The common mediators between the two are Anxiety and Worry. Both uncertainty and defenses are highly subjective and cannot be precisely measured, thus, this study aims to narrow down and characterize the defense styles that come into play at different levels of uncertainty. The samples size of the study was 102 Young Adults. The tools used for the conduction of this study were Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale short version (IUS 12) by Carleton, Norton and Asmundson (2007) and the Defense Style Questionnaire 40 (DSQ 40) by Andrews, Singh, & Bond (1993). Mean, SD and Pearson’s Correlation were used for the statistical analysis of all variables present. A strong positive correlation was found between Neurotic, Immature defense styles and Intolerance of uncertainty, and a weak negative correlation was found between Positive defense style and Intolerance of uncertainty. Minute gender differences were also noted.