Could Psychological Flexibility Play a Buffering Role Against the Negative Effects of Depression, Stress, and Anxiety in General Population: A Canonical Correlation Analysis

Abstract

The main purpose of the current study was to explore possible unique links between overall psychological flexibility (PF), its six processes (acceptance, defusion, present moment awareness, self as context, values and committed action) and psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress). The data were collected from 331 participants from various universities in Turkey and canonical correlation analysis was utilized to test interrelationships between the variable sets. According to the findings psychological flexibility and psychological distress variable sets share a moderate variance of 40% and 15% of variance PF variate was explained by psychological distress variables, while 30% of variance in psychological distress variate was explained by PF variables. Findings also showed the negative connectivity of defusion, present moment awareness, and values, and committed action and total PF with all psychological distress variables. But, although at the bivariate level acceptance and self-as-context were inversely related with anxiety and stress, not with depression, these links were not observed in canonical correlation analysis. As a result our findings collectively reaffirms the importance and protective role of overall PF and its processes for understanding the onset and maintenance of depression, anxiety, and stress.