Psychological well-being and anxiety among relatives of Mexican cancer patients: Two models

Authors

  • Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
  • Western Michigan University
  • Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
  • Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
  • Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila
  • Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29059/rpcc.20200617-108

Keywords:

dual model, mental health, psychopatho-logical models, well-being, anxiety

Abstract

The psychopathological model of mental health emphasizes dimensions such as depression and anxiety. The dual model however includes positive traits such as optimism and self-esteem. The current study compared both models to show which one better predicts psychological wellbeing as well as anxiety. The procedure utilized in this study included calculating a mental health index that combined optimism, self-esteem, depression and perceived stress scores. The sample for convenien-ce consisted of 350 relatives of cancer patients. Their mean age was M = 39.87 years, SD = 14.87. Structural equation modeling was used to measure the effects of mental health over psychological well-being and anxiety. Findings reveal that both models produce similar size effects (> 0.26) of the explained variances. The dual model however has a greater capacity to predict psychological well-being (.65 versus .44) and anxiety (.46 versus .38). Finally, the article discusses implications of the dual model for diagnosis, interpretation and interven-tion.

Published

2020-06-17

Issue

Section

Investigación empírica y análisis teórico