| The transdiagnostic approach to psychopathology focuses on identifying and creating commonalities across psychological disorders (e.g., symptoms, behaviors, processes). Application of this approach enhances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying psychological disorders and enhances treatment effectiveness and efficiency. The current study aimed to investigate the self-regulatory processes underlying fear-and distress-based disorders, a taxonomy of emotional disorders developed through application of the transdiagnostic approach. Informed by Self-Discrepancy Theory, two distinct types of discrepancy (actual –ought and actual-ideal discrepancy) were used to predict symptom severity across fear-and distress-based disorders, respectively. Additionally, indicators of dispositional behavioral motivation tendencies were evaluated as exploratory moderators. As such, a transdiagnostic model capable of addressing multifinality and divergent trajectories was proposed, with discrepancy being evaluated as a common variable that increases risk for multiple disorders, and behavioral inhibition and activation being evaluated as individual differences impacting this relationship. Two online samples (one college and one nation-wide community) completed self-report questionnaires for compensation (N = 353). Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and test the proposed models. Findings supported a transdiagnostic model in which discrepancy between one’s actual and ideal self-concept predicted symptom severity across distress-based disorders, and discrepancy between one’s actual andought self-concept predicted symptom severity across fear-based disorders. No significant moderation was observed, indicating that the best fitting model addressed only multifinality. While not without limitations, ELF-DISCREPANCY AS A TRANSDIAGNOSTIC FACTORxfindings from the current study have implications for intervention and prompt further research on self-regulation as a transdiagnostic process. Key Words: Self-discrepancy, self-regulation, transdiagnostic research, fear-based disorders, distress-based disorders |