Negative emotions and quality of life among adolescents: A moderated mediation model

Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2020 May-Aug;20(2):118-125. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2020.02.001. Epub 2020 Mar 31.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Background/objective: Depression, anxiety and stress are known as negative emotions. Previous studies have shown that negative emotions were associated with quality of life. There are a lot of researches on quality of life. However, previous studies mainly focused on health-related quality of life among patients. This study aims to examine the relationship between negative emotions and quality of life as well as the underlying psychological mechanism among community-based samples.

Method: We surveyed 6,401 adolescents (age: 9-15 years old). Participants were assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescent, Perceived Social Support Scale and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Scale for Negative Emotions, Resilience, Social Support and Quality of Life.

Results: Results revealed that negative emotions were negatively associated with quality of life, and resilience mediated the relationship between negative emotions and quality of life. Social support moderated all the paths among negative emotions, resilience and quality of life.

Conclusions: Adolescents' quality of life was indirectly affected by negative emotions via resilience, and less affected by negative emotions and more affected by resilience with the improvement of social support. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Antececentes/objetivo: Estrés, ansiedad y depresión son emociones negativas. Estudios previos mostraron que las emociones negativas se asocian con la calidad de vida. Existen numerosas investigaciones centradas en la calidad de vida, sin embargo, los estudios se centran en la calidad de vida de pacientes en relación con su salud. En este estudio se examina la relación entre emociones negativas y calidad de vida, y los mecanismos psicológicos subyacentes.

Método: Encuestamos a 6.401 adolescentes (9-15 años). Los participantes fueron evaluados con la Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, la Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescent, la Perceived Social Support Scale y el Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Scale for Negative Emotions, Resilience, Social Support and Quality of Life.

Resultados: Las emociones negativas fueron negativamente asociadas con la calidad de vida, y la resiliencia medió la relación entre emociones negativas y calidad de vida. El apoyo social moderó todas las vías entre emociones negativas, resiliencia y calidad de vida.

Conclusiones: La calidad de vida de los adolescentes fue indirectamente afectada por las emociones negativas mediante la resiliencia, menos afectada por emociones negativas y más afectada por la resiliencia con la mejora en el apoyo social. Se discuten las implicaciones teóricas y prácticas de estos resultados.

Keywords: Cross-sectional survey; Negative emotions; Quality of Life; Resilience; Social support.