Structural model of body image relationship with the mediation of perceived stress in people with rheumatoid arthritis based on personality traits

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes joint pain, inflammation, and physical, and mental problems. Considering the high interaction of body image, personality traits, and perceived stress with complications caused by rheumatoid arthritis, it seems necessary to investigate their simultaneous role in a structural model.

This study aimed to provide a model to investigate the effect of personality traits on body image with the mediation role of perceived stress in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Using the purposive sampling method, 350 people with rheumatoid arthritis referred to the rheumatology centers of Tehran hospitals were selected considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data was collected by the MBSRQ (Cash, 1990), NEO (Costa & McCrae, 1985), and PSS-14 (Cohen et al., 1983) questionnaires. In this study, descriptive data analysis and hypothesis testing were done using a path analysis approach with a structural equation method.

Findings revealed that neuroticism (-0.311) and perceived stress (-0.453) have a significantly negative effect while agreeableness 0.355 and openness (0.272) have a significantly positive effect on body image. Further, extroversion has a positive effect of (0.321) whereas conscientiousness and agreeableness have negative effects of -0.251 and –(0.276) on perceived stress. When Perceived stress was assessed the indirect effect of extroversion on body image turned negative at -0.1454, the indirect effect of agreeableness on body image turned positive at 0.1251, and the indirect effect of conscientiousness on body image turned positive at 0.1137 (p<0.01).

According to the findings, the final model has a good fit, thus personality traits and perceived stress are strong predictors of body image changes in people with rheumatoid arthritis. Considering the prominent role of psychological factors in the body image of people with rheumatoid arthritis, it is suggested to use complementary treatments that include cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors.