The associations of emotion regulation, self-compassion, and perceived lifestyle discrepancy with breast cancer survivors’ healthy lifestyle maintenance

Purpose: Unhealthy lifestyle increases the risk of comorbidities, reduced quality of life, and cancer recurrence among breast cancer survivors. It is important to identify emotional and cognitive factors that may affect the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle over time. This study examined the associations of perceived lifestyle discrepancy, self-compassion, and emotional distress with the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle among breast cancer survivors and the mediating role of emotion regulation patterns (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) in these associations. Methods: A total of 145 female breast cancer survivors aged 31–77 completed self-reports on healthy lifestyle maintenance, perceived lifestyle discrepancy, self-compassion, emotional distress, and emotion regulation patterns. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Results: Mean physical activity and healthy diet maintenance scores were moderate. The structural equation modeling analysis showed good fit indicators (χ2 = 4.21, df = 10, p =.94; χ2/df = 0.42; NFI =.98; TLI = 1.09; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA =.00, 95% CI (.00,.02)). Lower perceived lifestyle discrepancy was directly associated with higher physical activity (β = −.34, p <.01) and healthy diet (β =−.39, p <.01). Cognitive reappraisal was associated with higher physical activity (β =.19, p <.01), and expressive suppression was associated with lower physical activity (β = −.19, p <.01), and both mediated the association between self-compassion and physical activity. Conclusions: The mediated associations reported in this study indicate that psychosocial factors, especially self-compassion, perceived lifestyle discrepancy, and emotional regulation patterns, are relevant to healthy lifestyle maintenance among breast cancer survivors, because solely providing healthy lifestyle recommendations does not motivate individuals to adhere to them. Implications for Cancer Survivors: Short-term structured psychosocial interventions designed to reduce perceived health discrepancy and strengthen self-compassion should be implemented and their effect on lifestyle should be further evaluated.