Cognitive and Socio-emotional Correlates of Psychological Well-being and Mental Health in Guatemalan Adults 

Abstract

Background: Little is known about associations of psychological and mental well-being with cognitive and socioemotional factors in low and middle-income countries, particularly among vulnerable populations born in adverse environments that may restrict developmental potential. This study aimed to examine the cognitive and socioemotional correlates of psychological well-being and mental health in a cohort of Guatemalan adults born in contexts of adversity.Methods: From Dec 2017 to Apr 2019, data were collected from 704 women and 564 men ages 40-57 y living in four rural villages in eastern Guatemala and Guatemala City. We measured latent domains of psychological well-being, spirituality and religion, emotional support, and executive function using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Under a Structural Equation Modeling framework, we examined intercorrelations among latent domains and observed measures of intelligence and mental health. Results: CFA supported the construct validity of factor structures in this population. Correlations of psychological well-being with spirituality and religion were moderate in women (r=0.68, p<0.001) and strong in men (r=0.70, p<0.001). Executive function was weakly correlated with psychological well-being in men (r=0.23, p<0.001) and showed no association in women. Correlations of psychological well-being with emotional support and IQ were weak in women (r=0.34, and r=0.15, respectively; p<0.001 for both) and men (r=0.35, and r=0.25, respectively; p<0.001 for both). Mental health and IQ were weakly correlated in men (r=0.09, p<0.05) and showed no association in women. Mental health showed weak correlations with emotional support (r=0.18, p<0.001 in women; r=0.09, p<0.05 in men), psychological well-being (r=0.32 and r=0.35, in women and men respectively; p<0.001 for both) and showed no association with executive function in both sexes.Conclusions: Our findings lay the foundation for advancing the understanding of factors that could contribute to strengthening psychological well-being and mental health in populations living in contexts of adversity. The extent to which spiritual and religious involvement may promote higher levels of psychological well-being merits further investigation.