Psychosocial Predictors of Mental and Physical Health: HIV

随着研究人员试图了解人们对生活压力源的心理适应能力的个体差异，人格特征和灵性/宗教性(S/R)都已成为面对逆境时持续幸福感的重要预测因素，尽管尚不清楚这些变量如何与情绪幸福感共同相关。此外，大多数关于人格特征和宗教信仰之间的关系的研究都是在健康的、调整得很好的样本中进行的，对它们在弱势群体中的联系知之甚少。为了解决研究记录中的这些差距，在最近的一项研究中，LPC/PSCS的调查人员在艾滋病毒携带者的样本中检查了人格特征和S/R与精神健康的相对关联。 对宗教心理学的研究依赖于各种方法来捕捉人们对神圣的体验，但宗教性和精神性之间可以划分出基本的区别。宗教性是对传统宗教信条的坚持，通常以特定的信仰社区为中心，并包括与特定信仰体系相关的一系列行为(例如，祈祷、参加教堂活动)。灵性通常指的是对超越的主观体验，它为日常生活注入了一种更深层次的感觉，也可能包括一种与人类交流的感觉和对他人的同情。在研究受艾滋病毒/艾滋病影响的人群时，这种区别尤其相关，他们经常面临污名，可能更有可能报告为精神上的，但不是宗教上的。 我们关注人格特质的五因素模型，这是一个全面的、被广泛复制的特质分类，它从以下五个维度描述人格：神经质(N)、外向(E)、开放体验(O)、宜人性(A)和尽责(C)。在以前的研究中，高A与宗教性的关联似乎比与灵性的关联更强，高O显示相反的模式，高C与这两个概念都相关，而低N和高E对这两个概念的关联都较弱。 方法 参与者(n=112)是从更大的纵向样本中抽取的付费志愿者，如果他们是HIV阳性且CD4计数在150到500之间，则被招募到父母样本中。参与者通过基线时的CD4淋巴球计数和病毒载量来评估疾病状态。人格特质采用修订后的NEO人格问卷(NEO-PI-R，Costa&McCrae，1992)进行评估。精神性和宗教性用Ironson-Wood精神性/宗教性指数(IWSRI；Ironson et al.，2002)的缩写进行评估。心理健康通过包括贝克抑郁量表(BDI，Beck，Steer，&Brown，1996)、感知压力量表(Cohen，Kamarck，&Mermelstein，1983)和其他量表在内的测试组合来获取。 结果 我们的发现表明，人格特征与S/R之间的关系的一般模式在不同的样本中都是成立的。C与S/R的关联模式最一致，与IWSRI的所有分量表都有显著的部分相关，其次是A和O。对于N，显著的关联仅限于宗教行为量表，E是唯一与IWSRI没有关联的因素。来自方面水平分析的证据表明，宗教与冲动(N)的低分和利他主义和顺从性(A)的高分有关。此外，在所有研究中，精神性的各个方面都与幻想、美学和情感(O)的高分有关。此外，温柔(A)和能力(C)的高分与灵性和宗教性都有关。 人格因素和IWSRI得分与心理健康显著相关，一般模式表明，N与较低的心理健康水平(即较高的抑郁、绝望、焦虑和压力以及较低的乐观水平)相关。其余人格因素和IWSRI分量表与心理健康呈正相关。 讨论 宗教和精神个体感到自己的生活是自己的，并对他人表现出高度的同情和关心。此外，主要是宗教人士的独特特点是能够抵抗诱惑，同时有缓和社会冲突和帮助其他有需要的人的趋势。主要是精神上的个体，反过来又表现出生动的想象力、对美的欣赏和对内心感受的接受。 我们的研究结果表明，当把neo-Pi-R领域结合起来考虑时，潜在的人格特质充分解释了S/R与心理健康之间的联系，这与宗教性和精神性是个性适应的理论主张是一致的，因为基本人格特质是由文化和环境影响(来源)引导的。此外，一组中介分析提供了很好的初步证据，表明S/R的某些方面在O和A与心理健康的关系中起中介作用。我们的发现还具有重要的实践意义，因为中介分析表明，S/R对心理健康的好处在很大程度上取决于一个人潜在的人格特征。这表明，任何旨在促使人们转向宗教以改善心理健康的干预措施都可能被误导。相反，医疗专业人员可能想要评估他们的客户的个性特征，以确定谁可能从获得精神和/或宗教支持和指导中受益最大。

As researchers seek to understand individual differences in peoples psychological resilience to life stressors, both personality traits and spirituality/religiousness (S/R) have emerged as important predictors of sustained well-being in the face of adversity, though it is not clear how these variables are jointly related to emotional well-being. Further, most research on the relation between personality traits and religiousness has been conducted in healthy, well-adjusted samples and little is known about their association in vulnerable populations. To address these gaps in the research record, in a recent study LPC/PSCS investigators examined the relative association of personality traits and S/R with mental health in a sample of people living with HIV. Research on the psychology of religion relies on a wide variety of measures to capture peoples experience of the sacred, yet a basic distinction can be drawn between religiousness and spirituality. Religiousness captures adherence to traditional religious creeds, often centered on a specific community of faith and encompasses a set of behaviors (e.g., prayer, church attendance) associated with a specific belief system. Spirituality typically refers to subjective experiences of the transcendent which imbue everyday life with a sense of deeper and may also encompass a sense of communion with humanity and compassion for others. This differentiation is particularly relevant when studying populations affected by HIV/AIDS who often face stigmatization and may be more likely to report being spiritual but not religious. We focus on the Five-Factor Model of personality traits, a comprehensive and widely replicated trait taxonomy that describes personality along the following five dimensions: Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness to Experience (O), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness (C). In previous studies, high A appears to show somewhat stronger associations to religiousness than to spirituality, high O shows the opposite pattern, high C is related to both concepts, whereas low N and high E show weaker associations to either construct. Method Participants (n=112) were paid volunteers drawn from a larger longitudinal sample and were recruited into the parent sample if they were HIV positive and had CD4 counts ranging from 150 to 500. Participants disease status was assessed via CD4 lymphocite count and viral load at baseline. Personality traits were assessed with the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R, Costa & McCrae, 1992). Spirituality and religiousness were assessed with the short form of the Ironson-Wood Spirituality/Religiousness Index (IWSRI; Ironson et al., 2002). Mental health was captured using a test battery including the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996), the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983), and others. Results Our findings suggest that the general pattern of associations between personality traits and S/R holds true across diverse samples. C showed the most consistent pattern of associations to S/R with significant partial correlations to all of the IWSRI subscales, followed by A and O. For N, significant associations were limited to the Religious Behavior scale and E was the only factor that showed no associations to the IWSRI. Evidence from facet-level analyses illustrate that religiousness is associated with low scores on Impulsiveness (N) and high scores on Altruism and Compliance (A). Also, consistently across studies, aspects of spirituality were associated with high scores on Fantasy, Aesthetics, and Feelings (O). Further, high scores on Tender-Mindedness (A) and Competence (C) were associated with both spirituality and religiousness. Personality factors and IWSRI scores were significantly associated with mental health and the general pattern suggested that N was associated with lower levels of mental health (i.e., higher levels of depression, hopelessness, anxiety and stress as well as lower levels of optimism). The remaining personality factors as well as the IWSRI subscales were positively associated with mental health. Discussion Religious and spiritual individuals feel in charge of their lives and show high levels of sympathy and concern for others. In addition, primarily religious individuals are uniquely characterized by the ability to resist temptations coupled with the tendency to de-escalate social conflicts and assist others in need. Primarily spiritual individuals, in turn, show vivid imagination, appreciation for beauty, and receptiveness to their inner feelings. Our findings suggest that when the NEO-PI-R domains are considered in combination, underlying personality traits fully account for the association of S/R with mental health, consistent with the theoretical claim that religiousness and spirituality are characteristic adaptations that develop as basic personality traits are channeled by cultural and environmental influences (source). Furthermore, a set of mediation analyses provide good initial evidence that certain aspects of S/R mediate the relationship of both O and A with mental health. Our findings also have important practical implications because the mediation analyses suggest that the benefits of S/R for mental health are largely dependent on a persons underlying personality traits. This suggests that any interventions aimed at inducing a turn towards religion in order to improve mental health may be misguided. Instead, medical professionals may want to assess their clients personality profile to determine who may benefit most from access to spiritual and/or religious support and guidance.