Comparative Study of Positivity and Self-Efficacy for the Regulation of Negative Emotions in Persons with and without Cardiovascular Disease

Among chronic diseases, cardiovascular disease is considered to be the leading cause of death in developed countries. Numerous investigations have determined the influence of several factors on the development and prognosis of the disease; among these factors, some are associated with sociodemographic variables, such as socioeconomic status; and others to psychological variables such as positive orientation towards life or self-efficacy for the regulation of negative emotions. The present investigation follows an ex post facto prospective design in which two samples are to be compared, one with cardiovascular disease (N = 369) and the other without cardiovascular disease (N = 320). All participants responded to a questionnaire assessing both their socio-demographic characteristics (socioeconomic status, age, sex, life in pairs, work status), as well as the psychosocial and dispositional variables related to the evolution of cardiovascular disease, self-efficacy for the regulation of negative emotions and positivity or positive orientation towards life. The results showed that the positivity is positively and significantly related to the socioeconomic level of the participants and to the self-efficacy for negative emotional regulation (for the whole sample and independently in both samples). While older participants showed greater self-efficacy for the regulation of negative emotions (distress and despair); these relationships remained significant in the sample of patients with cardiovascular disease. Univariate analyzes showed that the patient sample maintained a higher level of positivity and self-efficacy for the regulation of negative emotions than the general population sample. However, the men of both show significantly more self-efficacy for the regulation of negative emotions, both of anguish and despair. This result allows us to advance an important line of intervention in women with cardiovascular disease; especially relevant to the increase in mortality in women due to this cause. Finally, given that our results confirm previous research on the relationship between cardiovascular disease and socioeconomic status and employment status, the need to intervene by providing more disadvantaged groups of the population with psychological strategies to cope with the disease is discussed.