Cognitive-Affective Factors Associated with Psychological Distress in Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Structural Equation Modelling Study
Abstract
Objectives: To examine concurrent associations among cognitive-affective factors associated with psychological distress in young adults. Methods: Cross-sectional structural equation modelling was conducted in a community sample of 841 young adults aged 18 to 30 years. Psychological distress was specified as a latent factor indicated by depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), anxious symptoms (GAD-7), and perceived stress (PSS-10). Mindfulness facets (FFMQ), metacognition (MSAS-18), resilience (ER89), and creativity (RDCA) were entered into two models with alternative structural orderings. Model fit was evaluated using the CFI, TLI, RMSEA, SRMR, AIC, and BIC. Results: Model 1 showed acceptable-to-good fit (CFI = .98, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .03) and better comparative fit than Model 2 (CFI = .97, TLI = .90, RMSEA = .09, SRMR = .06). Model 1 statistically accounted for 53.9% of the variance in latent psychological distress. Acting with awareness (β = -.29), nonjudging (β = -.39), and nonreactivity (β = -.20) showed unique negative associations with distress, whereas observing showed a small positive association (β = .08). Resilience showed a direct negative association and negative indirect associations in configurations involving acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity. Metacognition showed negative indirect associations involving acting with awareness and nonreactivity. Creativity showed a bivalent pattern: a positive indirect association involving observing and a negative indirect association involving nonreactivity. Conclusions: Acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity showed the clearest unique associations with lower psychological distress in young adults. These findings identify candidate self-regulatory capacities for prospective testing in preventive and therapeutic intervention research.
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BibTeX
@misc{seneviratne2026cognitiveaffective,
title = {{Cognitive-Affective Factors Associated with Psychological Distress in Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Structural Equation Modelling Study}},
author = {Rose Seneviratne and Matthew Garner and Emma Palmer-Cooper},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/p2e8b_v2},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/p2e8b_v2/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Cognitive-Affective Factors Associated with Psychological Distress in Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Structural Equation Modelling Study
AU - Rose Seneviratne
AU - Matthew Garner
AU - Emma Palmer-Cooper
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/p2e8b_v2
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/p2e8b_v2/
AB - Objectives: To examine concurrent associations among cognitive-affective factors associated with psychological distress in young adults. Methods: Cross-sectional structural equation modelling was conducted in a community sample of 841 young adults aged 18 to 30 years. Psychological distress was specified as a latent factor indicated by depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), anxious symptoms (GAD-7), and perceived stress (PSS-10). Mindfulness facets (FFMQ), metacognition (MSAS-18), resilience (ER89), and creativity (RDCA) were entered into two models with alternative structural orderings. Model fit was evaluated using the CFI, TLI, RMSEA, SRMR, AIC, and BIC. Results: Model 1 showed acceptable-to-good fit (CFI = .98, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .07, SRMR = .03) and better comparative fit than Model 2 (CFI = .97, TLI = .90, RMSEA = .09, SRMR = .06). Model 1 statistically accounted for 53.9% of the variance in latent psychological distress. Acting with awareness (β = -.29), nonjudging (β = -.39), and nonreactivity (β = -.20) showed unique negative associations with distress, whereas observing showed a small positive association (β = .08). Resilience showed a direct negative association and negative indirect associations in configurations involving acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity. Metacognition showed negative indirect associations involving acting with awareness and nonreactivity. Creativity showed a bivalent pattern: a positive indirect association involving observing and a negative indirect association involving nonreactivity. Conclusions: Acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity showed the clearest unique associations with lower psychological distress in young adults. These findings identify candidate self-regulatory capacities for prospective testing in preventive and therapeutic intervention research.
ER -