Social support serves emotion regulation function in death anxiety among people living with HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Several studies have reported the independent roles of social support and emotion regulation in death anxiety. However, there is sparse literature on mediating role of emotion regulatory mechanisms in the link between social support and death anxiety. This study examined whether social support predicts multidimensional death anxiety as a function of emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) among people living with HIV/AIDS. Participants were 186 people living with HIV/AIDS (mean age = 34.16 years, standard deviation = 11.16; 56.5% women) drawn from the HIV/AIDS care unit of a tertiary health care institution in south-eastern Nigeria. Data were obtained by means of self-report measures of death anxiety, social support, and emotion regulation. A serial mediation analysis was conducted using Model 6 of the Hayes PROCESS macro for SPSS® which applies two mediators for each single analysis in a regression-based, path-analytical framework. The results showed that emotion regulation strategies, especially expressive suppression, was the indirect pathway through which social support from friends and significant others reduces death anxiety in aspects of death acceptance and death thoughts, but not for externally generated death anxiety and death finality. The mediation mechanism through family support was found for only death acceptance. Findings support existing mental health research and theories elucidating core social mechanisms of emotion regulation in relation to mental health and highlight the recognition of functional roles of multidimensional support in comprehensive case management services for helping people living with HIV/AIDS maintain their health. The study endorses improved social networks as part of the overall care for people living with HIV/AIDS.