Coping and Physical Health During Caregiving: The Roles of Positive and Negative Affect

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology 2000-07, Vol.79 (1), p.131-142
• Main Authors: Billings, Douglas W, Folkman, Susan, Acree, Michael, Tedlie Moskowitz, Judith
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - psychology; Adaptation, Psychological; Affect; AIDS; Biological and medical sciences; Caregiver Burden; Caregivers; Caregivers - psychology; Caregiving; Caring; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology); Coping; Coping Behavior; Emotional States; Emotions; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health; Health Status; HIV; HIV Infections - psychology; Homosexuality; Homosexuality, Male - psychology; Human; Human viral diseases; Humans; Illness; Illness and personality; Illness, stress and coping; Infectious diseases; Interview, Psychological; Male; Males; Medical sciences; Medical sociology; Prospective Studies; Psychology; Psychology and medicine; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Repression, Psychology; San Francisco; San Francisco, California; Self-Injurious Behavior; Spouses - psychology; Spouses - statistics & numerical data; Stress; Stress, Psychological; Symptoms; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids
• ISSN: 0022-3514; 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.79.1.131

The associations among coping, mood, and health variables were examined prospectively over 2 years in 86 HIV positive (HIV+) and 167 HIV negative (HIV−) gay men undergoing the stress of AIDS-related caregiving. Path models suggested that including both positive and negative mood and the men's associated coping strategies increases understanding of why some people suffer adverse health effects during times of stress. Among the HIV− caregivers, higher levels of social coping predicted increases in positive affect, which in turn resulted in lower levels of physical symptoms. In contrast, higher levels of cognitive avoidance predicted increases in negative affect, which in turn resulted in higher levels of physical symptoms. Self-injurious forms of avoidance coping predicted higher levels of physical symptoms independent of mood among the HIV+ caregivers.