Study participants (704 women; 564 men) had a mean age of 47 years. Table 1 shows means and SD of the scores of completed tests. Models in women and men showed adequate fit (RMSEA = 0.04; CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.95, and RMSEA = 0.04, CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94, respectively).
Table 1
Demographic, cognitive, and socioemotional characteristics of the study population, by sex 1
| n | Women | n | Men | P-value |
Age, y | 704 | 47.5 ± 4.3 | 564 | 47.4 ± 4.1 | 0.61 |
Area of residence, % rural | 704 | 71.6 | 564 | 74.6 | 0.23 |
Psychological well-being | | | | | |
Lyubomirsky Happiness (out of 5) | 700 | 4.0 ± 1.0 | 553 | 4.1 ± 0.9 | 0.25 |
NIH Life Satisfaction (out of 25) | 699 | 18.5 ± 3.5 | 553 | 18.9 ± 3.4 | 0.07 |
NIH Meaning and Purpose (out of 45) | 698 | 36.2 ± 4.1 | 552 | 37.2 ± 4.0 | < 0.01 |
NIH Self-efficacy (out of 40) | 698 | 30.9 ± 7.1 | 552 | 31.4 ± 6.4 | 0.25 |
Socio-emotional scores | | | | | |
NIH Emotional support (out of 40) | 703 | 31.0 ± 9.3 | 559 | 32.5 ± 7.7 | < 0.01 |
WHOQOL-SRPB Hope facet (out of 5) | 698 | 3.2 ± 0.8 | 552 | 3.3 ± 0.7 | < 0.05 |
WHOQOL-SRPB Faith facet (out of 5) | 698 | 3.9 ± 0.7 | 552 | 3.9 ± 0.7 | 0.79 |
Mental health | | | | | |
SRQ-20 (out of 20) 2 | 700 | ± 4.0 | 558 | 17.7 ± 2.9 | < 0.01 |
Cognitive tests scores | | | | | |
Intelligence | | | | | |
Raven's Progressive Matrices, (# correct out of 36) | 686 | 15.3 ± 4.9 | 537 | 17.8 ± 6.0 | < 0.01 |
Executive function | | | | | |
List Sorting Working Memory, (# correct out of 26) | 670 | 11.3 ± 3.8 | 541 | 12.7 ± 3.9 | < 0.01 |
Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention, (NIH score) 3 | 671 | 5.4 ± 1.1 | 542 | 5.8 ± 1.2 | < 0.01 |
Cognitive flexibility - DCCS, (NIH score) 3 | 677 | 5.1 ± 1.9 | 546 | 5.4 ± 1.9 | < 0.01 |
1 Values are means ± SD or percentages. 2 For interpretation purposes items were reverse scored so that higher mean values are indicative of greater mental health. 3 Computed scores range from 0–10, but if the score is between 0 and 5, it indicates that the participant did not score high enough in accuracy (80% correct or less). Abbreviations: NIH National Institutes of Health; DCCS Dimensional Change Card Sort; WHOQoL SRPB World Health Organization Quality of Life Spirituality, Religiosity, and Personal Beliefs; SRQ-20 Self-Reported Questionnaire-20. |
Models combining the hope and faith facets with the psychological well-being components indicated a small decrease in goodness-of-fit indices (RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.93 in women, and RMSEA = 0.04, CFI = 0.94 and TLI = 0.93 in men). Thus, we decided to keep the model that differentiates spirituality and religion from psychological well-being.
First-order factor loadings for scales assessing happiness, life satisfaction, meaning and purpose, self-efficacy, emotional support, hope, and faith are presented in Supplemental Table 2. Second-order CFA showed that the theorized subcomponents for spirituality and religion and psychological well-being were highly loaded into their underlying constructs. We also found computed scores for List Sorting Working Memory, Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention, and DCCS tests loaded onto the executive function latent construct (Table 2).
Table 2
Factor loadings for psychological well-being, spirituality, and religion, and executive function latent constructs.1
| Women | Men |
Psychological well-being scales | | |
Lyubomirsky Happiness | 0.73 | 0.69 |
NIH Life Satisfaction | 0.86 | 0.86 |
NIH Meaning and purpose | 0.83 | 0.83 |
NIH Self-efficacy | 0.55 | 0.53 |
Spirituality and religion2 | | |
Faith | 0.79 | 0.73 |
Hope | 0.91 | 0.88 |
Executive function | | |
List sorting working memory test | 0.60 | 0.66 |
Flanker Inhibitory control and attention test | 0.59 | 0.69 |
Cognitive flexibility - DCCS3 test | 0.82 | 0.70 |
1. All factor loadings are statistically significant (p < 0.01) |
2. Measured using the hope and faith facets of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Spirituality, Religiosity and Personal Beliefs (WHOQoL SRPB). |
3. DCCS Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) |
Intercorrelation matrices between latent domains and observed variables in women and men are presented in Table 3 and Table 4, respectively. In women, psychological well-being was moderately associated with spirituality and religion (r = 0.68, p < 0.001), weakly correlated with emotional support (r = 0.34, p < 0.001), mental health (r = 0.32, p < 0.001) and IQ (r = 0.15, p < 0.001), and showed no association with executive function. Mental health was weakly correlated with emotional support (r = 0.18, p < 0.001), spirituality, and religion (r = 0.16, p < 0.001), and showed no association with IQ and executive function. We also found moderate correlations between executive function and IQ (r = 0.63, p < 0.001) (Table 3).
Table 3
Correlation matrix of cognitive and socioemotional domains among adult women in Guatemala (n = 704)
| Psychological well-being | Emotional support | Spirituality and religion | Mental health | IQ | Executive function |
Psychological well-being | - | | | | | |
Emotional support | 0.34** | - | | | | |
Spirituality and religion | 0.68** | 0.19** | - | | | |
Mental health | 0.32** | 0.18** | 0.16** | - | | |
IQ | 0.15** | 0.09* | 0.27** | 0.08 | - | |
Executive function | 0.08 | 0.15** | 0.38** | 0.08 | 0.63** | - |
*p < 0.05; **p < 0.001 |
Table 4
Correlation matrix of cognitive and socioemotional domains among adult men in Guatemala (n = 564)
| Psychological well-being | Emotional support | Spirituality and religion | Mental health | IQ | Executive function |
Psychological well-being | - | | | | | |
Emotional support | 0.35** | - | | | | |
Spirituality and religion | 0.70** | 0.32** | - | | | |
Mental health | 0.35** | 0.09* | 0.12* | - | | |
IQ | 0.25** | 0.11* | 0.32** | 0.09* | - | |
Executive function | 0.23** | 0.22** | 0.43** | 0.08 | 0.70** | - |
*p < 0.05; **p < 0.001 |
|
The correlation matrix in men showed similar results. We observed a strong association between psychological well-being and spirituality and religion (r = 0.70, p < 0.001). Psychological well-being was weakly correlated with emotional support (r = 0.35, p < 0.001), mental health (r = 0.35, p < 0.001), IQ (r = 0.25, p < 0.001) and executive function (r = 0.23, p < 0.001). Mental health was weakly associated with emotional support (r = 0.09, p < 0.05), spirituality and religion (r = 0.12, p < 0.05), and IQ ( r = 0.09, p < 0.05), and showed no association with executive function. We also found strong correlations between executive function and IQ (r = 0.70, p < 0.001) (Table 4).