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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1437478
This article is part of the Research Topic The Intersection of Psychology, Healthy Behaviors, and its Outcomes View all 29 articles

The effect of alexithymia on self-perceived aging among community-dwelling older adults with multiple chronic conditions: The mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

Provisionally accepted
Jianou Xu Jianou Xu 1Bin Shang Bin Shang 1Jun Zhang Jun Zhang 2*Caifeng Luo Caifeng Luo 1*Zekun Bian Zekun Bian 1*Fei Lv Fei Lv 3*Zhengxia Yang Zhengxia Yang 4*
  • 1 Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
  • 2 Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 3 Jingjiang College, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 4 First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui Province, China

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

    Objectives: This study investigated the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between alexithymia and self-perceived aging among older adults.We surveyed 478 Chinese community-dwelling older adults from November 2022 to May 2023.The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), and Brief Aging Perceptions Questionnaire (B-APQ) were used. Correlation analyses, multiple linear regression analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed.The average age of participants was 71.52±7.80 years, and the number of chronic diseases was distributed as follows: 270 (56.49%) had 2 disease conditions , 156 (32.64%) had 3 disease conditions, and 52 (10.88%) had 4 disease conditions or more. Scores for alexithymia 57.83±10.19; maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies 49.63±10.65; and self-perceived aging 58.74±10.23. Alexithymia and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies were positively correlated with negative self-perceived aging (r=0.665 and r=0.673, respectively), explaining 51.8% of the variance in self-perceived aging. Structural equation modeling results showed that alexithymia had a direct effect (of 0.368) on self-perceived aging, accounting for 44.1% of the total effect. Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies partially mediated the relationship, with a mediation effect of 0.386, accounting for 51.8% of the total effect.These findings suggest that addressing maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies can help reduce negative self-perceived aging in elderly individuals with multiple chronic conditions, particularly among those with alexithymia.

    Keywords: alexithymia, Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation, multiple chronic conditions, Self-perceived aging, older adults

    Received: 23 May 2024; Accepted: 17 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xu, Shang, Zhang, Luo, Bian, Lv and Yang. 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:
    Jun Zhang, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
    Caifeng Luo, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
    Zekun Bian, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
    Fei Lv, Jingjiang College, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu Province, China
    Zhengxia Yang, First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, 241001, Anhui Province, China

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