The mediating role of cognitive behavioral avoidance and cognitive flexibility in the relationship between distress tolerance and anxiety in university students

Studies on anxiety, which is known to be associated with withstanding distress, and the variables that mediate the relationship between these two variables, are limited in the literature. In this study, it was aimed to examine the mediating effect of cognitive behavioral avoidance and cognitive flexibility, which are predicted to mediate the relationship between these two variables. The sample of the study consists of 446 university students continuing their education in various universities in Turkey. The method of this research is relational survey study. Path analysis, one of the structural equation models, was used to test the mediation effect of the variables. In the study, it was found that cognitive behavioral avoidance had a mediating effect on the relationship between distress tolerance and anxiety; On the other hand, it was concluded that cognitive flexibility did not mediate the relationship between distress tolerance and anxiety.