The Relationship between Field Independence and Dependence, Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms and Meta-Cognitive Beliefs in a Nonclinical Sample of Students

People who exhibit field dependence tend to rely on information provided by the outerworld, the field or frame of a situation and their cognitions based on this overall field. Hence, the research purpose is to investigate the relationship between field independence and dependence, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and meta-cognitive beliefs in a nonclinical sample of students. Therefore, a sample of 300 university students was randomly selected from among the Islamic Azad University located in the west ofMazandaran and tested in terms of field independence and dependence, obsessivecompulsive symptoms and meta-cognitive beliefs. Data that were analyzed usingcorrelation coefficient and multivariate regression indicated that there is significant negative relationship between filed dependence-independence and obsessive-compulsivesymptoms. However, significant and positive relationship was observed between the metacognitive beliefs and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The subscales of positive beliefs about worry, uncontrollability of danger and cognitive self-awareness were the strongest predictors of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the nonclinical sample. Moreover, it seems that recognition and change of meta-cognitive beliefs in relation to the uncontrollability of danger, cognitive self-awareness and positive beliefs about worryshould be taken into consideration in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.