Pathways to Psychological Resilience: The Mediating Roles of Cognitive Emotion Regulation and Social Support in the Link Between Ego Strength and Adaptation to Type II Diabetes

Shahnaz Mohammadi; Mohammad Ali Besharat; Zahra Naghsh

Authors

Shahnaz Mohammadi Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran Corresponding Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9953-2856
Mohammad Ali Besharat Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Tehran. Tehran, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2571-2920
Zahra Naghsh Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, Faculty of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6065-7838

Keywords:

Cognitive emotion regulation strategies, Social support, Ego strength, Disease adaptation, Type II diabetes

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the mediating roles of cognitive emotion regulation strategies and social support in the relationship between ego strength and adaptation to type II diabetes. This descriptive-correlational study employed a path analysis design. The statistical population consisted of patients with type II diabetes aged 30–75 years who attended the Taban Diabetes Clinic in Tehran, Iran. A total of 250 patients were selected through random sampling. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires assessing ego strength, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, perceived social support, and adaptation to diabetes. Two mediation models were examined to distinguish the roles of adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Structural relationships among the study variables and the significance of direct and indirect effects were evaluated using structural equation modeling and path analysis in AMOS software. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that ego strength had a significant direct effect on adaptation to type II diabetes and also exerted significant indirect effects through cognitive emotion regulation strategies and social support. Adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies significantly mediated the relationship between ego strength and disease adaptation, with an indirect effect of 0.21. Social support also showed a significant positive mediating effect, with an indirect effect of 0.14. In the alternative model, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies significantly mediated the association between ego strength and adaptation in a negative direction, with an indirect effect of −0.14. Thus, higher ego strength was associated with better adaptation through greater use of adaptive regulatory strategies and stronger social support, whereas maladaptive strategies constituted a negative pathway linking psychological functioning to disease adaptation. Ego strength contributes to adaptation to type II diabetes through both direct and mediated psychological and social pathways. Adaptive cognitive emotion regulation and social support facilitate successful adjustment, whereas maladaptive emotion regulation may undermine adaptation.

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