Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is a life-threatening disease that severely affects many spheres of women's lives. Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI) has been shown to influence one's adaptation to a challenging clinical condition. In addition, previous studies have demonstrated how attributing responsibility for negative events or emotions to external or internal sources may determine varying levels of adaptation to one's disease. Hence, it seems crucial to explore these aspects concurrently in the context of BC. This study sought to examine whether the association between depressive symptoms and TEI was mediated by (self and other) blame. Methods: Questionnaires were administered to 290 individuals suffering from BC to assess the variables of interest and a path analysis was performed to put the hypotheses into test. Analysis of the covariance matrices was conducted using R and solutions were generated based on maximum-likelihood estimation. Path analysis was conducted to test a model with TEI as the predictor variable, Self-blame and Other-blame as mediators, and Depression as an outcome. Estimation of the saturated model was carried out, and therefore no fit indices were reported. Results: Results highlighted that TEI was negatively related to Self-blame (β = -.35; p<.001), Other-blame (β = -.32; p<.001), and Depression (β = -.55; p<.001). Moreover, depression was positively related to both Self-blame (β = .11; p<.05) and Other-blame (β = .14; p<.05). In addition, both Self-blame (β = -.04; p<.05) and Other-blame (β = -.05; p<.05) showed a mediating role in the relationship between TEI and depression. Conclusion: Results showed that proper clarity of emotion enables individuals to adaptively regulate their emotions in response to specific life events or situations. More specifically, a greater ability to think and process emotions is associated with a lower tendency of an individual to blame themselves for negative events or circumstances and to not attribute responsibility for their condition to external sources or other people. This, in turn, may allow for better interpersonal relationships and a lower risk of interpersonal distress. Clinicians may want to implement interventions aimed at fostering TEI in their BC patients to improve their psychosocial adjustment.
Trait emotional intelligence in women with breast cancer: Investigating pathways towards depressive symptomatology through blame.
Barberis N.
;Cannavo' M
2024-01-01
Abstract
Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is a life-threatening disease that severely affects many spheres of women's lives. Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI) has been shown to influence one's adaptation to a challenging clinical condition. In addition, previous studies have demonstrated how attributing responsibility for negative events or emotions to external or internal sources may determine varying levels of adaptation to one's disease. Hence, it seems crucial to explore these aspects concurrently in the context of BC. This study sought to examine whether the association between depressive symptoms and TEI was mediated by (self and other) blame. Methods: Questionnaires were administered to 290 individuals suffering from BC to assess the variables of interest and a path analysis was performed to put the hypotheses into test. Analysis of the covariance matrices was conducted using R and solutions were generated based on maximum-likelihood estimation. Path analysis was conducted to test a model with TEI as the predictor variable, Self-blame and Other-blame as mediators, and Depression as an outcome. Estimation of the saturated model was carried out, and therefore no fit indices were reported. Results: Results highlighted that TEI was negatively related to Self-blame (β = -.35; p<.001), Other-blame (β = -.32; p<.001), and Depression (β = -.55; p<.001). Moreover, depression was positively related to both Self-blame (β = .11; p<.05) and Other-blame (β = .14; p<.05). In addition, both Self-blame (β = -.04; p<.05) and Other-blame (β = -.05; p<.05) showed a mediating role in the relationship between TEI and depression. Conclusion: Results showed that proper clarity of emotion enables individuals to adaptively regulate their emotions in response to specific life events or situations. More specifically, a greater ability to think and process emotions is associated with a lower tendency of an individual to blame themselves for negative events or circumstances and to not attribute responsibility for their condition to external sources or other people. This, in turn, may allow for better interpersonal relationships and a lower risk of interpersonal distress. Clinicians may want to implement interventions aimed at fostering TEI in their BC patients to improve their psychosocial adjustment.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.