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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Behav. Neurosci.
Sec. Emotion Regulation and Processing
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1465254
This article is part of the Research Topic Between Emotional Regulation and Dysregulation: Perspectives, Interventions, Tools and Technologies for Psychological Well-Being View all 8 articles

The Mediating Effect of Problem-Focused Coping on the Relationship Between Emotional Clarity and Mental Health Among Older Adults

Provisionally accepted
Myung Hyun Cho Myung Hyun Cho 1*Kee-Hong Choi Kee-Hong Choi 2
  • 1 BK21 FOUR R&E Center for Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 2 School of Psychology, Korea University,, Seoul, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: Individuals who can clearly recognize emotions are better able to identify and accept their feelings and manage them. This study examined the mediation of problem-focused coping in the pathway through which emotional clarity predicts higher life satisfaction and lower depression in older adults. Methods: In total, 150 older adults (75 male and 75 female, aged 60-69 years, with a mean of 64.53 [SD = 2.49]) participated in a face-to-face survey, answering questions on emotional clarity, problem-focused coping, life satisfaction, and depression. Results: Emotional clarity was associated with higher life satisfaction and lower depression in older adults. People who were clearly aware of their emotions were in better emotional condition. Mediation analysis revealed that problem-focused coping mediated the positive relationship between emotional clarity and life satisfaction and the negative relationship between emotional clarity and depression. Older adults who clearly recognize their emotions tend to deal with emotional events in a problem-focused manner, leading to high life satisfaction and low depression. Conclusion: This study identifies cognitive conditions for increasing life satisfaction and preventing depression in later life and offers suggestions for personal and social efforts to maintain mental health.

    Keywords: Emotional clarity, problem-focused coping, life satisfaction, Depression, older adults

    Received: 16 Jul 2024; Accepted: 12 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cho and Choi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Myung Hyun Cho, BK21 FOUR R&E Center for Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.