Pojdi na slovensko stran članka / Go to the article page in Slovene
Personality traits and illness representations as predictors of life satisfaction in hypertensive adolescents and emerging adults
Urška Žugelj, Luka Komidar & Maja Zupančič
Full text (pdf) | Views: 140 | 
Written in English. | Published: December 13, 2016
https://doi.org/10.20419/2016.25.458 | Cited By: CrossRef (0)
Abstract: This exploratory study examined the role of illness representations and personality in hypertensive adolescents’ and emerging adults’ life satisfaction. Even though earlier research showed that illness representations and personality traits predict life satisfaction in paediatric samples suffering from other chronic illnesses, these associations were not yet explored on youth with essential hypertension. The 97 participants were assessed for demographic and medical data, life satisfaction, illness representations (own illness representations – OIR, and perceived important others’ representations about participants’ illness – PIOIR), and personality (self-report and peer-report). Regression analyses indicated that OIR and self-reported personality traits accounted for 24% of the variance in general life satisfaction, 33% of variance in family-related life satisfaction, 25% of variance in friends-related life satisfaction, and 25% of variance in self-related life satisfaction. When entering PIOR illness representations and peer-assessed personality traits as predictors of life satisfaction domains, these predictors accounted for 29% of the variance in general life satisfaction, 23% of variance in family-related life satisfaction, 17% of variance in friends-related life satisfaction, 24% of the variance in the living environment-related life satisfaction, and 20% in self-related life satisfaction. More specifically, the personality traits of agreeableness (self-report), neuroticism (self-report) and openness (peer report), as well as the illness representations dimensions (OIR: concern and emotional burden; PIOIR: identity, comprehension, consequences and treatment control of PIOIR), were shown to be the most important predictors of different domains of life satisfaction.
Keywords: life satisfaction, personality traits, illness representations, essential hypertension, adolescents, emerging adults
Cite:
Žugelj, U., Komidar, L., & Zupančič, M. (2016). Personality traits and illness representations as predictors of life satisfaction in hypertensive adolescents and emerging adults. Psihološka obzorja, 25, 203–213. https://doi.org/10.20419/2016.25.458
Reference list
Bardage, C., & Isacson, D. G. (2001). Hypertension and health–related quality of life: An epidemiological study in Sweden. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 54(2), 172–181. CrossRef
Broadbent, E., Petrie, K. J., Main, J., & Weinman, J. (2006). The Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ). Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60, 631–637. CrossRef
Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005). Personality development: Stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 453–484. CrossRef
Chong, J., Mackey, A. H., Broadbent, E., & Stott, N. S. (2012). Children's perceptions of their cerebral palsy and their impact on life satisfaction. Disability & Rehabilitation, 34(24), 2053–2060. CrossRef
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1980). Influence of extraversion and neuroticism on subjective well-being: Happy and unhappy people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 668–678. CrossRef
De Bolle, M., De Clercq, B., De Fruyt, F., & Benoit, Y. (2008). Self- and parental perspectives on quality of life in children with cancer. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 26(2), 35–47. CrossRef
DeNeve, K. M., & Cooper, H. (1998). The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 197–229. CrossRef
Diener, E., Suh, E., Lucas R., & Smith, H. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302. CrossRef
Edgar, K. A., & Skinner, T. C. (2003). Illness representations and coping as predictors of emotional well-being in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 28(7), 485–493. CrossRef
Edwards, T. C., Patrick, D. L., & Topolski, T. D. (2003). Quality of life of adolescents with perceived disabilities. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 28(4), 233–241. CrossRef
Finset, A., & Gerin, W. (2008). How can we promote medication adherence and lifestyle changes in hypertensive patients? Patient Education and Counseling, 72(2), 1–2. CrossRef
Fogle, L. M., Huebner, E. S., & Laughlin, J. E. (2002). The relationship between temperament and life satisfaction in early adolescence: Cognitive and behavioral mediation models. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3(4), 373–392. CrossRef
Gilman, R., Huebner, E. S., & Laughlin, J. (2000). A first study of the Multidimensional Students' Life Scale with adolescents. Social Indicators Research, 52, 135–160. CrossRef
Hagger, M. S., & Orbell, S. (2003). A meta-analytic review of the common sense model of illness representations. Psychology and Health, 18, 141–184. CrossRef
Halverson, C. F., Havill, V. L., Deal, J., Baker, S. R., Victor, J. B., Pavlopoulos, … Wen L. (2003). Personality structure as derived from parental ratings of free descriptions of children: The Inventory of Child Individual Differences. Journal of Personality, 71, 995–1026. CrossRef
Helgeson, V. S., & Novak, S. A. (2007). Illness centrality and well-being among male and female early adolescents with diabetes. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 32(3), 260–272. CrossRef
Hildingh, C., & Baigi, A. (2010). The association among hypertension and reduced psychological well-being, anxiety and sleep disturbances: A population study. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 24, 366–371. CrossRef
Huebner, E. S. (1994). Preliminary development and validation of a Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale for Children. Psychological Assessment, 6, 149–158. CrossRef
Huebner, E. S., Valois, R. F., Suldo, S. M., Smith, L. C., McKnight, C. G., ... Zullig H. J. (2004). Perceived quality of life: A neglected component of adolescent health assessment and intervention. Journal of Adolescent Health, 34, 270–278. CrossRef
Knyazev, G. G., Zupančič, M., & Slobodskaya, H. R. (2008). Child personality in Slovenia and Russia: Structure and mean level of traits in parent and self-ratings. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39, 317–334. CrossRef
Kreamer, H. C., Willson, T., Fairbourn, C. G., & Agras, S. (2002). Mediators and moderators of treatment effects in randomized clinical trials. Archives of General Psychiatry, 59(10), 877–883. CrossRef
La Greca, A. M., & Bearman, K. J. (2003). Adherence to pediatric treatment regimens. In M. C. Roberts (Ed.), Handbook of pediatric psyhology (str. 119–140). New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press.
Law, G. U., Kelly, T. P., Huey, D., & Summmerbell, C. (2002). Self-managemant and well-being in adolescents with diabetes mellitus: Do illness representations play a regulatory role? Journal of Adolescent Health, 31, 381–385. CrossRef
Leventhal, H., Halm, E., Horowitz, C., Leventhal, E. A., & Ozakinci, G. (2004). Living with chronic illness: A contextual, self-regulation approach. In S. Sutton, A. Baum, & M. Johnston (Eds.), The Sage handbook of health psychology (pp. 197–240). London, UK: Sage.
Leventhal, H., Weinman, J., Leventhal, E. A., & Philips, L. A. (2008). Health psychology: The search for pathways between behavior and health. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 477–505. CrossRef
Marcionetti, J., & Rossier, J. (2016). Global life satisfaction in adolescence: The role of personality traits, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Journal of Individual Differences, 37(3), 135–144. CrossRef
Petrie, K. J., & Weinman, J. (2006). Why illness representations matter? Clinical Medicine, 6(6), 536–539. CrossRef
Petrie, K. J., & Weinman, J. (2012). Patients' perceptions of their illness: The dynamo of volition in health care. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 60–65. CrossRef
Proctor, C. L., Linley, P. A., & Maltby, J. (2009). Youth life satisfaction: A review of literature. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, 583–630. CrossRef
Salewski, C. (2003). Illness representations in families with a chronically ill adolescent: Differences between family members and impact on patients' outcome variables. Journal of Health Psychology, 8(5), 587–598. CrossRef
Sawyer, M. G., Reynolds, K. E., Couper, J. J., French, D. J., Kennedy, D., Martin, J., ... Baghurst, P. A. (2005). A two-year prospective study of the health-related quality of life of children with chronic illness: The parents' perspective. Quality of Life Research: An International Journal of Quality of Life Aspects of Treatment, Care & Rehabilitation, 14(2), 395–405.CrossRef
Steel, P., Schmidt, J., & Shultz, J. (2008). Refining the relationship between personality and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 138–161. CrossRef
Suldo, S., & Huebner, E. (2004). The role of life satisfaction in the relationship between authoritative parenting dimensions and adolescent problem behavior. Social Indicators Research, 66, 165–195. CrossRef
Varda, N. M., & Gregorič, A. (2005). A diagnostic approach for the child with hypertension. Pediatric Nephrology, 20, 499–506. CrossRef
Vitterso, J. (2001). Personality traits and subjective well-being: Emotional stability, not extraversion, is probably the important predictor. Personality and Individual Differences, 31(6), 903–914. CrossRef
Weber, M., & Huebner. S. E. (2015). Early adolescents' personality and life satisfaction: A closer look at global vs. domain-specific satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 83, 31–36. CrossRef
Zupančič, M., & Kavčič, T. (2009). Vprašalnik o medosebnih razlikah za otroke in mladostnike (VMR–OM): Priročnik [The Inventory of Child and Adolescent Individual Differences: Manual]. Ljubljana, SI: Center za psihodiagnostična sredstva.
Žugelj, U. (2010). Dejavniki psihosocialne prilagoditve na kronično bolezen pri mladostnikih: Primer esencialne hipertenzije (neobjavljeno doktorsko delo) [Factors of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness in adolescents: a case of essential hypertension (unpublished doctoral dissertation)]. Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Žugelj, U., Zupančič, M., Komidar, L., Kenda, R., Marčun-Varda, N., & Gregorič, A. (2010). Self-reported adherence behavior in adolescent hypertensive patients: The role of illness representations and personality. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 35(9), 1049–1060. CrossRef
