Coping with multiple sclerosis: The role of negative affectivity

Abstract

Three stress and coping models with hypothesized relationships among negative affectivity, physical disability, internal health locus of control, and negative mood were tested. It was hypothesized that negative affectivity would be a significant predictor of negative mood and that self-reported physical disability and an internal health locus of control would not be significant predictors of negative mood. Multiple indicators of each construct were collected from 199 multiple sclerosis patients. Using structural equation analysis, two of the three models showed an acceptable fit with the data. In each of the two models that fit, negative affectivity had the greatest impact on negative mood. In the first model, a direct relationship between physical disability and negative mood was hypothesized, and this path was not found to be significant. In the second model, the effect of physical disability on negative mood was mediated by internal health locus of control, and although the indirect effect was significant, the strength of the relationship was relatively small compared to the relationship between negative affectivity and negative mood. A hierarchical regression was also conducted, and results confirmed the hypothesis that once negative affectivity is controlled, physical disability and internal health locus of control do not contribute significantly to the variance in negative mood. The implications of the results for research and treatment are discussed.