Abstract:
More than 1000 respondents in Sweden (2013) and the US (2014) were asked
to report their subjective opinions and attitudes about situations that caused
them regret, concern, worry, and anxiety. US respondents self-identified as
Black. Although exploratory factor analyses extracted many latent factors
from the 80 questions, a common latent inner factor was extracted from five
questions that examined key psychological phenomena: worry at the present
time, bothersome concerns in the present, regret for the past, anxiety about
the future, and unpleasant experience in the past. Confirmatory factor analyses
and structural equation modeling of the latent variables (SEM/LV) provided
convincing evidence of the existence of a common latent inner factor in
both countries. Because each of the five key phenomena reflected concerns
involving the self, the common latent inner factor was labeled “Being unable
to detach from concerns involving the self.” Then, the same latent inner factor
was also confirmed in SEM/LV of combinations of data from Swedish and US
Black respondents, and from respondents in a previous study (Japanese, and
US respondents who identified as White; Hayase, 2016). Women, younger
people, and people with lower levels of education were less able to detach
from concerns involving the self than men, older people, and people with
higher levels of education. Confirmatory factor analyses by SEM/LV provided
additional evidence of the existence of a common latent inner factor for the
five phenomena, worry, bothersome concerns, regret, anxiety, and unpleasant
experience. Psychological and philosophical implications of the latent inner
factor with regard to genuine happiness were discussed.
