Goal flexibility and emotional well-being in women with spontaneous 46,xx primary ovarian insufficiency (premature ovarian failure)

Abstract

When a health condition interferes with one's ability to attain an important life goal, the capacity to redirect attention toward other goals may be essential to preserving quality of life. Here we examine whether the ability to reengage with other important life goals and to disengage from the goal of getting pregnant is related to greater emotional well-being among women with primary ovarian insufficiency. Cross-sectional. We recruited women with spontaneous primary ovarian insufficiency (n = 100) between 18 and 42 years of age. Measures included Goal Disengagement and Reengagement scales, Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), state anxiety subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), positive and negative affect subscales from the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and Purpose in Life subscale from the Positive Mental Well-being Inventory. Pearson correlations and linear regression analyses were conducted to test study hypotheses. Goal reengagement scores were related to higher levels of positive affect (r = 0.43, P < 0.0001) and purpose in life (r = 0.25, P < 0.02), and to lower levels of negative affect (r = −0.22, P < 0.04), state anxiety (r = −0.30, P < 0.003) and depressive symptoms (r = −0.25, P < 0.02). Goal disengagement scores also were associated with lower state anxiety (r = −0.22, P < 0.04) and depressive symptom levels (r = −0.20, P < 0.05), but were unrelated to positive affect, well-being, or negative affect (all P > 0.11). The relations between goal flexibility scores and outcomes were sustained in models that included age, ethnicity, education level, and marital status. Women with primary ovarian insufficiency face the real and unexpected evidence that achieving an important goal, becoming pregnant, is threatened. The current findings indicate that a woman's capacity to broaden her focus to include pursuit of other meaningful life goals, or other approaches to reaching the goal of parenthood, may help her both to sustain positive emotional well-being and to minimize affective disturbance. These findings further suggest that goal flexibility should be examined as a potential target of interventions to promote emotional resilience among women with primary ovarian insufficiency.