Role of excessive reassurance seeking from others and interpersonal sensitivity in predicting social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms

Introduction: Excessive reassurance seeking from others and interpersonal sensitivity with a temporary reduction of anxiety play an essential role in the persistence of anxiety disorders. The present study investigated the role of excessive reassurance seeking of others and interpersonal sensitivity in predicting social anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.  Materials and Methods: The statistical population consisted of all the housewives of Sabzevar City, Iran, in the summer of 2022. A sample of 339 housewives were selected using two-stage cluster sampling. They filled the questionnaires about obsessive-compulsive, social anxiety, seeking reassurance from others, and interpersonal sensitivity. The data were analyzed using correlation, regression, and analysis of variance tests.  Results: The findings showed that excessive reassurance and interpersonal sensitivity have a significant correlation with the total score of obsessive-compulsive and social anxiety, and excessive reassurance and interpersonal sensitivity predict 6% of the variance related to social anxiety and 33% of the variance of obsessive-compulsive. Also, the results showed that the group with obsessive symptoms compared to the group with social anxiety symptoms and the healthy group had the highest score in interpersonal sensitivity and excessive reassurance (P 0.001).  Conclusion: Excessive reassurance and interpersonal sensitivity are important explanations for anxiety disorders, especially obsessive-compulsive disorder.