The role of Authenticity in Anxiety, Depression and Quality of Life: An exploratory Cross-sectional study.

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between authenticity and symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) and life satisfaction in the context of the theoretically related constructs of adult romantic attachment, reflective functioning and insight in a convenience sample of Swedish adults. One hundred and ninety-one participants were recruited from various sources through a convenience sampling method. The participants completed an online survey which included standardized measures of all off the constructs measured above as well as demographic- and psychiatric history questions. T-test, correlational analysis and hierarchical multiple regressions were used to analyse the data. The results suggested that authenticity is significantly correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as HR-QoL and life satisfaction and that individuals who report being diagnosed with a mental health disorder also tend to report substantially lower levels of authenticity (d=0.92). Other noteworthy findings are that symptoms of anxiety and depression accounted for a vast majority of the variance in HR-QoL and life satisfaction and that adult romantic attachment was a significant predictor for all the outcome variables. These results add to a small body of evidence and further research is needed.