Self-Control and Self-Efficacy for Affect Regulation as Moderators of the Negative Affect–Life Satisfaction Relationship
| Autor: | Valerie Ann McKinney, Owen Richard Lightsey, Trisha Marie Nash, Eli Benjamin Rarey, David Maxwell |
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| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy. 25:142-154 |
| ISSN: | 1938-887X 0889-8391 |
| Popis: | Trait negative affect has a unique inverse relationship with life satisfaction across the life span. Because lower life satisfaction predicts mortality and higher suicidality, ascertaining malleable psychological factors that attenuate the effects of negative affect on life satisfaction is particularly important. The authors tested the hypothesis that self-efficacy for ability to regulate one's negative emotions, and general self-control, would moderate the relationship between trait negative affect and life satisfaction. Among 191 college students, self-efficacy for ability to regulate anger moderated, but self-control did not moderate, the relationship between negative affect and life satisfaction. At high levels of self-efficacy, the relationship between negative affect and life satisfaction was nonsignificant. At mean and low levels of self-efficacy, negative affect was strongly and inversely related to life satisfaction. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. Keywords: self-efficacy; self-control; negative affect; life satisfaction; affect regulation Satisfaction with life, a cognitive, global evaluation of one's life satisfaction, constitutes one of the three core dimensions of hedonic well-being and is well-established as a pivotal index of psychological health (Diener, 1984; Pavot & Diener, 2008). Additionally, recent evidence indicates that life satisfaction predicts other important health-related outcomes. For example, higher life satisfaction has predicted lower mortality after controlling for age, sex, marital status, education, and health status and appears to do so independently of depression (Collins, Glei, & Goldman, 2009). Confirming such findings, a recent meta-analysis revealed that life satisfaction and other positive traits inversely predicted mortality among both healthy persons and persons with diseases, and that this effect was independent of the effect of negative affect (Chida & Steptoe, 2008). Similarly, a nationwide study of Finnish adults (Koivumaa-Honkanen et al., 2001) revealed that life dissatisfaction at baseline predicted suicide instances over a 20-year follow- up period: Men who were highly dissatisfied with life were more likely to commit suicide compared to men who were satisfied with life. Life dissatisfaction remained a strong predictor of suicide after controlling for age, sex, baseline health status, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and smoking status. Factors that reduce life satisfaction, then, may have profound effects, reducing not only positive mental health but also life expectancy and increasing the risk of suicide. One factor that is known to predict decreases in life satisfaction is trait negative affect. Although construed by many well-being theorists as a component of well-being, negative affect has also been conceptualized as a personality trait that predicts life satisfaction (Lent, 2004). Consistent with this thesis, negative affect has been uniquely and inversely associated with life satisfaction across the life span (Siedlecki, Tucker-Drob, Oishi, & Salthouse, 2008) and has inversely predicted life satisfaction in various populations (e.g., Libran & Piera, 2008; Singh & Jha, 2008). Similarly, neuroticism, which overlaps significantly with trait negative affect, has inversely predicted life satisfaction over time (Tyssen et al., 2009). Negative affect not only predicts lower life satisfaction but also has proven to be a powerful vulnerability factor for a wide range of mental and physical problems, including depression and anxiety (see Anderson & Hope, 2008); tension-related diseases, such as high blood pressure, migraines, and neck pain (Johnson, 2003); and coronary disease (Suls & Bunde, 2005). Recent evidence in fact suggests that trait negative affect may be the unifying toxic element that links individual forms of negative trait emotions (e.g., anger) to autonomic nervous system dysfunction (Bleil, Gianaros, Jennings, Flory, & Manuck, 2008). … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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