The role of intolerance of uncertainty on body dissatisfaction and compulsive exercise in female university students: an experimental study

The temporal links between intolerance of uncertainty (IU), body dissatisfaction and compulsive exercise in non-clinical populations remains underexplored. The current study aimed to explore the impact of intolerance of uncertainty states (high vs. low) on weight and shape concerns and exercise attitudes. Fifty-one females (Mage = 20.59 years) were randomly allocated to one of two groups: Increasing IU or Reducing IU. An established IU induction paradigm was used to manipulate perceptions of uncertainty. In the first session, baseline validated measures of compulsive exercise, body dissatisfaction, negative affect and IU were collected. During the second session, the participants’ mood, body weight and shape concerns and their desire to exercise to control weight, were measured pre- and post- manipulation, using Visual Analogue Scales (VAS). No differences between the two groups were found in baseline measures or pre- VAS scores. The Reducing IU group reported a significant decrease in: (1) their concerns towards body shape, and (2) body shape concerns if they were able to exercise compared to the Increasing IU group, even controlling for baseline levels of body dissatisfaction, exercise weight control and IU. The findings suggest that low IU-states may lead to decreased body shape concerns and the desire to exercise driven by shape concerns among females.