The Mediating Role of Cognitive Flexibility, Shame and Emotion Dysregulation Between Neuroticism and Depression

Abstract

Objectives:Cognitive flexibility, shame, and emotion regulation difficulties are considered potential mediating factors that may explain the relationship between neuroticism and depression severity. The aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of cognitive flexibility, shame and emotion dysregulation in the relationship between neuroticism and depression among university students.Methods: A total of 271 students (102 males and 169 females) were selected by cluster random sampling from University of Tehran, Allameh Tabataba'i University, and Iran University of Science & Technology. Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI), Test of Self-Conscious Affect-2 (TOSCA-2), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) were used to collect the data. Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and path analysis were applied for data analysis.Results: It was found that neuroticism was significantly associated with depression and all three mediators (P<0.0001). Neuroticism by means of emotion dysregulation was the only significant indirect effect on depression (P<0.0001). First total mediation model had a poor fit to the data, CMIN=87, P<0.0001, CMIN/df=21.75, CFI=82, RMSEA=28.Discussion: These findings suggest that for student depression, emotion dysregulation might be important and future intervention works can examine the effects of targeting emotion dysregulation among university students with high levels of neuroticism and/or depression.

Mediating the Effect of Cognitive Flexibility in the Relationship between Psychological Well-Being and Self-Confidence: A Study on Turkish University Students

“…When cognitive flexibility served as a mediator, the level of psychological well-being increased much further than before. Existing studies have already pointed out that cognitive flexibility can serve as a mediator in various contexts (Cardom, 2016;Dağ and Gülüm, 2013;Koesten, Schrodt and Ford, 2009;Zarei, Momeni and Mohammadkhani, 2018).…”

Development of the dog executive function scale (DEFS) for adult dogs

“…However, the items in this factor could also be interpreted to reflect behaviours associated with neurotic personality traits in dogs (Ley et al 2009 ). In humans, neuroticism has been found to be associated with cognitive flexibility (Clarke and Kiropoulos 2021 ; Zarei et al 2018 ). While we are not aware of studies directly assessing the personality trait neuroticism and cognitive flexibility in dogs, it is possible that they are correlated in dogs as they are in humans.…”

How Does Cognitive Flexibility Associate with Depressive Symptoms? A Multiple Mediation Model Including Emotion Dysregulation and Problem-Solving

“…It can be measured with both some behavioral tasks and self-report tools. In both methods, it has been emphasized that cognitive flexibility is negatively associated with several psychological symptoms and psychopathology (e.g., Chamberlain et al, 2006;Hayes et al, 2006;Tchanturia et al, 2012;) specifically depression (Dağ & Gülüm, 2013;Wang et al, 2019;Yazar & Meterelliyoz, 2019;Zarei et al, 2018).…”

“…Also, Radkovsky et al (2014) emphasized how emotion regulation strategies related to cognitive flexibility should be explained in future studies. After all, recent studies demonstrated that emotion regulation is moderately associated with cognitive flexibility (Baginski, 2015;Zarei et al, 2018).…”