| Abstrakt: |
Background Individual differences in temperament develop early in life and remain stable throughout adulthood. Those who are temperamentally shy are susceptible to impairments in several domains of adaptive functioning, including poor social skills, reduced quality of life (QoL), and higher rates of psychiatric disorders. Individual differences in premorbid temperamental shyness in childhood are known to portend reduced QoL in adults with schizophrenia (Goldberg & Schmidt, 2001). We also know that not all people with schizophrenia who are also temperamentally shy have reduced QoL. For example, recent studies have found evidence of biological moderators on the relation between temperamental shyness and QoL (Khalesi et al. 2018a,b). Relatively few studies, however, have examined factors that may link (i.e. mediate) the relation between individual differences in premorbid temperamental shyness and QoL among people with schizophrenia. One psychological well-being measure that may mediate this relation is level of trait happiness. The limited research on happiness among those with schizophrenia has been hypothesized to be due to the longstanding belief that anhedonia is an inherent feature of schizophrenia (Agid et al. 2012). Trait happiness refers to a subjective assessment of whether one is generally a happy or an unhappy person and is different from both subjective and objective QoL, which assess the presumed preconditions of happiness rather than the internally experienced perception of happiness itself (Diener, 1984; Lyubomersky & Lepper, 1997) and other positive personality traits such as optimism (Austin et al. 2005). As well, people who are temperamentally shy tend to report higher levels of negative than positive affect, suggesting lower trait happiness. To our knowledge, no study has examined whether one's level of happiness mediates the relation between temperamental shyness and QoL in schizophrenia. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine whether trait happiness mediated the relation between temperamental shyness and QoL in stable outpatient adults with schizophrenia. Methods Participants were 95 stable outpatients with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizophrenia spectrum disorders (nschizophrenia = 41, nschizoaffective disorder = 30, nother = 24). The participants (59 male, Meanage = 48.5 years, SD = 11 years) completed the Subjective Happiness Scale, Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale, and the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q). Results Analyses revealed that increases in shyness were associated with decreases in QoL (p <.05) in this sample, but this relation was no longer significant when happiness was entered into the model (p >.05), suggesting that trait happiness mediated the relation between shyness and QoL. Discussion These results suggest that lower levels of general or trait happiness may be a factor underlying the risk of poorer QoL outcomes in temperamentally shy adults with schizophrenia. These findings are consistent with the extant literature reporting that individual differences in temperamental factors and premorbid shy personality styles in childhood may play a role in psychological well-being and QoL in adulthood in individuals with schizophrenia. These findings may inform the development of novel psychosocial interventions for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
