Experiential avoidance, committed action and quality of life: differences between college students with and without chronic illness.
Abstract
This study aimed to explore, through structural equation modelling, experiential avoidance and committed action's effects on the association between anxiety and psychological quality of life and whether this relationship presents significant differences across a sample of 115 college students with chronic illness and a sample of 232 students without illness. Students with chronic illness presented higher levels of anxiety and experiential avoidance and lower levels of quality of life. The association between anxiety and psychological quality of life was partially explained by experiential avoidance and committed action. This path model was shown to be invariant between the two groups of students.
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Previous studies suggest that engaging in committed action is correlated with higher levels of quality of life and mental health, and lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.
“Previous studies suggest that engaging in committed action is correlated with higher levels of pain acceptance, health and functioning (McCracken, 2013), quality of life (Coutinho et al., 2019), and mental health (Åkerblom et al., 2016).”
From Validation of the Committed Action Questionnaire-8 and Its Mediating Role Between Experiential Avoidance and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese University Students (2021) · cites this paper as Coutinho et al., 2019
In a study of college students, EA and committed action were significant mediators of the association between anxiety and psychological quality of life.
“Another study of college students found that EA and committed action were significant mediators of the association between anxiety and psychological quality of life (Coutinho et al., 2019).”
From Validation of the Committed Action Questionnaire-8 and Its Mediating Role Between Experiential Avoidance and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese University Students (2021) · cites this paper as Coutinho et al., 2019
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- Authors
- Coutinho, M., Trindade, I. A., & Ferreira, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Coimbra (PT)
- Corresponding author
- Trindade, Inês A
- Venue
- Journal of Health Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-07-12
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1035-1045
- ISSN
- 1359-1053 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7277
- OpenAlex
- W2960435955
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 1.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Health Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- experiential avoidance, committed action, psychological quality of life, anxiety, chronic disease, university students, invariance
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Avoidance Learning, Chronic Disease, Humans, Quality of Life, Students
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