RESUMEN
The current study aimed to examine whether asthma moderates the association between the Big Five personality traits and life satisfaction. By analyzing data from 3934 people with asthma (40.09% males) with a mean age of 49.2 (S.D. = 16.94) years old and 22,914 people without asthma (42.9% males) with a mean age of 45.62 (S.D. = 17.25) years old using a hierarchical regression and multiple regressions, the current study found that asthma significantly moderates the link between Neuroticism and life satisfaction and Openness and life satisfaction after controlling for other covariates. Specifically, Neuroticism was negatively related to life satisfaction whereas Agreeableness, Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion were positively associated with life satisfaction in people with and without asthma. However, the negative association between Neuroticism and life satisfaction and the positive association between Openness and life satisfaction were stronger in people with asthma compared to people without asthma.
RESUMEN
Life satisfaction refers to the degree a person enjoys their life. An integrated account of life satisfaction is discussed in the literature, which proposes that life satisfaction is made up of personality traits and areas of life satisfaction (e.g., satisfaction with health, job, and social life). In addition, disruptions in one domain (e.g., health) may disrupt the association between personality traits and life satisfaction. The current research was interested in if clinically diagnosed cancer could influence the association between the Big Five personality traits and life satisfaction. The current study analyzed data from 1214 people with a diagnosis of cancer (38.55% males) with an average age of 59.70 (S.D. = 15.53) years and 13,319 people without a cancer diagnosis (38.13% males) with an average age of 59.97 (S.D. = 11.10) years who participated in Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS). For the first time, our study revealed that cancer markedly influences the relationship between Agreeableness and life satisfaction, after accounting for demographic variables. Neuroticism was negatively associated with life satisfaction in people with and without clinically diagnosed cancer, whereas Agreeableness and Extraversion were positively associated with life satisfaction in people with and without clinically diagnosed cancer. Openness and Conscientiousness were positively related to life satisfaction in people without cancer but were not significant predictors in people with cancer. Health professionals should develop strategies and interventions by fostering personality traits, including Agreeableness, Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion, while reducing Neuroticism.
RESUMEN
Although previous studies have investigated the presence of psychometric comorbidities in individuals with emphysema, our understanding of the impact of emphysema on general mental health and specific dimensions of mental health, such as social dysfunction and anhedonia, depression and anxiety, and loss of confidence, remains limited. This research aims to examine the influence of emphysema on general mental health and its dimensions using the GHQ-12 assessment. By employing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the predictive normative approach, and one-sample t-test, we analyzed data from Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), including 97 individuals clinically diagnosed with emphysema and 8980 individuals without a clinical diagnosis of emphysema. The findings of this study indicate that individuals with clinically diagnosed emphysema experience poorer general mental health (t(96) = 8.41, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.12, 95% C.I. [0.09, 0.15]), increased levels of social dysfunction and anhedonia (t(96) = 6.02, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.09, 95% C.I. [0.06, 0.11]), heightened depression and anxiety (t(96) = 7.26, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.11, 95% C.I. [0.08, 0.14]), as well as elevated loss of confidence (t(96) = 6.40, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.09, 95% C.I. [0.07, 0.12]). These findings suggest the need for intervention programs aimed at improving the mental health of individuals with emphysema.
RESUMEN
Cognitive deficits are commonly seen in people with arthritis. However, previous studies focused primarily on small-sized clinical samples. There is a need for cohort-based studies, which are characterized by high generalizability. In addition, these studies mainly focused on attention, memory, and executive function. However, cognition is not a single concept, but includes other cognitive domains, such as verbal fluency and arithmetic abilities. Thus, we aim to explore how arthritis can affect cognitive abilities, including episodic memory, semantic verbal fluency, fluid reasoning, and numerical ability by using a large cohort from the United Kingdom. The main findings were that people with arthritis have significantly lower immediate word recall (t(2257) = -6.40, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = -0.12, 95% C.I. = [-0.16, -0.08]), delayed word recall (t(2257) = -5.60, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = -0.11, 95% C.I. = [-0.14, -0.07]), semantic verbal fluency (t(2257) = -3.03, p < 0.01, Cohen's d = -0.06, 95% C.I. = [-0.10, -0.02]), fluid reasoning (t(2257) = -3.96, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = -0.07, 95% C.I. = [-0.11, -0.04]), and numerical ability (t(2257) = -3.85, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = -0.07, 95% C.I. = [-0.10, -0.03]) compared to what they would expect given their demographics. Interventions are needed to improve cognitive abilities in people with arthritis.