Department of Psychiatry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
School of Psychology and Public Health, LaTrobe University, Bundoora, Australia.
Psychol Health Med. 2022 Jul;27(6):1245-1254. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2020.1861313. Epub 2020 Dec 11.
Dispositional optimism is robustly associated with psychological wellbeing, and individuals with lower optimism tend to experience more depressive and anxiety symptoms. While mechanisms in this relationship such as coping and social integration have been explored, limited research has examined whether the self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt account for the association between dispositional optimism and psychological distress. The present study examined shame and guilt as mediators in the relation between dispositional optimism and depressive and anxiety symptom severity among 137 patients ( age = 33.5, = 12.08 years) seeking community-based mental health care. Mediation analyses using bootstrap 99% confidence intervals indicated significant mediation by guilt--but not shame--in the model predicting depressive symptoms, and significant mediation by shame--but not guilt--in the model predicting anxiety symptoms. These findings suggest differential effects of dispositional optimism on depressive and anxiety symptoms according to the predominance of shame- or guilt-related affects. Interventions seeking to reduce distress through promoting optimism may be enhanced by considering patients' experiences of shame and guilt.
性格乐观与心理健康密切相关，而乐观程度较低的个体往往更容易体验到更多的抑郁和焦虑症状。虽然已经探讨了这种关系中的应对机制和社会融合等机制，但很少有研究探讨羞耻和内疚等自我意识情绪是否解释了性格乐观与心理困扰之间的关联。本研究在寻求社区心理健康护理的 137 名患者（年龄=33.5，=12.08 岁）中，考察了羞耻和内疚作为性格乐观与抑郁和焦虑症状严重程度之间关系的中介变量。使用 bootstrap 99%置信区间的中介分析表明，内疚在预测抑郁症状的模型中存在显著的中介作用（但羞耻没有），而羞耻在预测焦虑症状的模型中存在显著的中介作用（但内疚没有）。这些发现表明，根据羞耻或内疚相关影响的主导地位，性格乐观对抑郁和焦虑症状的影响存在差异。通过促进乐观主义来减轻痛苦的干预措施，可以通过考虑患者的羞耻和内疚体验来得到增强。
