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Emotional Support and Affect: Associations with Health Behaviors and Active Coping Efforts in Men Living with HIV

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Abstract

The present study represents a cross-sectional examination of the relationship between affect, social support and illness adjustment in men diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Positive and negative affect were examined as separate mediators of the relationship between emotional support received from a primary support provider and illness adjustment in 105 men living with HIV. Results suggested that depressive symptoms emerged as a mediator between emotional support and engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors (assessed by summary index). In contrast, positive affect emerged as the primary mediator between emotional support and greater amounts of active coping. Overall, findings suggested that emotional support from close others was indirectly associated with health behaviors and coping through recipients’ affective states, and that these positive and negative affective states had differential relationships with multiple aspects of illness adjustment in men living with HIV.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA

    Nathan T. Deichert, Erin M. Fekete, Jessica M. Boarts & Douglas L. Delahanty

  2. Department of Psychology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Jennifer Ann Druley

  3. Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, 193 McCampbell Hall, 1581 Dodd Dr., Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Nathan T. Deichert

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  1. Nathan T. Deichert
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  2. Erin M. Fekete
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  3. Jessica M. Boarts
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  4. Jennifer Ann Druley
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  5. Douglas L. Delahanty
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Correspondence to Nathan T. Deichert.

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Deichert, N.T., Fekete, E.M., Boarts, J.M. et al. Emotional Support and Affect: Associations with Health Behaviors and Active Coping Efforts in Men Living with HIV. AIDS Behav 12, 139–145 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9214-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9214-y

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