Emotion Regulation and Well-Being in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is associated with daily stressors, including medical and physical limitations, as well as reduced social participation, necessitating psychological adjustment. Emotion regulation may be a key factor in this process and could explain variability in life satisfaction among individuals with CHD. However, emotion regulation has not been systematically investigated in this population.

A total of 1187 adults (aged 18 to 85; 60.2% female) from the German National Register for Congenital Heart Defects were classified into simple, moderate, or complex CHD severity groups and completed self-report measures of emotion regulation, mental and general health, and life satisfaction.

Rumination, suppression, and avoidance were negatively associated with life satisfaction, mental health, and general health, whereas reappraisal, acceptance, problem solving, and social support showed positive associations (life satisfaction: r =-0.20 to 0.34, p <.001; mental health: r =-0.38 to 0.28, p =.19 to<.001; general health: r =-0.10 to 0.16, p =.19 to<.001). Simple slope analyses indicated that rumination predicted poorer general health at simple and moderate, but not complex, severity levels, when controlling for age, sex, relationship, and employment status. Suppression ability was linked to better general health only in complex CHD.

Emotion regulation seems to be a critical factor in well-being outcomes among individuals with CHD. Findings highlight the importance of addressing emotion regulation skills in psychological interventions for this population.