Sleep and rest-activity rhythms for women at different menopausal statuses: the role of mental health.

OBJECTIVE: To examine how mental health interplays with menopausal status in relation to sleep patterns and rest-activity rhythms (RARs) among middle-aged women. METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited 87 women aged 45 to 60 years from community and a gynecology clinic in Taiwan. Participants wore actigraphy devices for 7 days and were also assessed with self-reported questionnaires. Hierarchical regression was used to examine the effects of menopausal status and mental health on sleep and RARs. RESULTS: Perimenopausal and postmenopausal women had higher relative amplitude and interdaily stability of RARs than premenopausal women. There were no differences in actigraphy-based sleep parameters across menopausal statuses. There was no difference in depressive symptoms or loneliness across menopausal statuses. Higher levels of depressive symptoms were significantly associated with longer sleep latency ( ß = 0.26, P = 0.022) and wake after sleep onset ( ß = 0.28, P = 0.012), and lower sleep efficiency ( ß = -0.30, P = 0.008) after adjusting for menopausal status and age. In addition, there was marginal significance of the positive association between loneliness and interdaily stability ( ß = 0.18, P = 0.079). A moderating effect ( ßmenopausal status*loneliness = -0.40, P = 0.025) showed that lonelier premenopausal women exhibited greater relative amplitude (RA) of rest-activity rhythms, but lonelier menopausal women had lower RA of RAR. CONCLUSION: Mental health plays an important role for middle-aged women with different menopausal statuses in relation to sleep patterns and RARs.

The Psychological Meaning of Self-Forgiveness in a Collectivist Context and the Measure Development.

PURPOSE: Self-forgiveness requires a cognitive reframing of one's views of the self. It may be a positive situational strength, and it has been shown that higher levels of self-forgiveness are related to well-being and a specific personality type. However, the concept, per se, and the inner healing process of self-forgiveness are still unclear because of a lack of cultural awareness in this research field. The current research aimed to conduct a conceptual analysis in a collectivist context and create an optional measurement scale for assessing self-forgiveness in a target population. METHODS AND RESULTS: In Study 1, using multidimensional scaling (MDS), the findings suggested that the conceptual structure of self-forgiveness among Taiwanese participants (N = 232) can be categorized into three dimensions: embodied awareness, positive change, and wisdom growth. The scale was created by using item analysis, factor analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and correlation analyses in Study 2 (N = 231) and Study 3 (N = 805), the scale was found to have adequate reliability and validity, and the scores correlated with measures of self-control and resilience. CONCLUSION: The constructs of self-forgiveness among a sample in Taiwan have three basic psychological meanings. The measure designed here is supported by adequate psychometric evidence. Further research will be necessary to increase the understanding of self-forgiveness cross-culturally, provide additional empirical validation and methodological refinement within different target groups, and investigate intra-individual positive strength change for the improvement and practical application of the current measurement tool.

Serendipity in Relationship: A Tentative Theory of the Cognitive Process of Yuanfen and Its Psychological Constructs in Chinese Cultural Societies.

The main purpose of this article is to combine three important themes in Chinese cultural societies: serendipity in relationship (yuanfen), relational interactions, and psychological adaptation through self-cultivation. People who live in Chinese cultural societies are deeply affected by relationalism and tend to be very different from their Western counterparts, who adopt individualistic methods when dealing with interpersonal problems. They are highly likely to access the perspective of yuanfen as part of their cultural wisdom to convert negative feelings, awkwardness, or setbacks caused by interpersonal relationship incidents, into a type of cognitive belief that can be used to combat anxiety and actuate coping actions. Based on this, this article proposes the tentative theory of a dialectical model which comprises elements of the philosophies of Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, to analyze the cognitive operation process regarding yuanfen and to explain and predict how people in Chinese cultural societies differ from most Western people in terms of psychological adjustment and coping actions when dealing with interpersonal problems. Canonical correlation analysis was used in the empirical study to describe this model and resulted in two statistically significant canonical factor pairs. The hypothesized model has been partially verified. It is hoped that this framework can serve as a pilot perspective for future studies, and at the same time provide the Western academic world with a reference for understanding the concept and substantive effects of serendipity in relationship. Further suggestions for future research direction are offered.