Relationship Between Cognitive Emotion Regulation and Coronavirus Anxiety in the Elderly: The Mediating Role of Distress Tolerance

The spread of Coronavirus seems to be an important challenge for health care systems in Iran. Cognitive emotion regulation and distress tolerance are thought to be the variables that can have a significant impact on mental health and quality of life in the elderly during the outbreak of coronavirus. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the mediating role of distress tolerance in the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation and Corona disease anxiety (CDA) in the elderly. The research method was correlational, of path analysis type. The statistical population included all the elderly living in Sanandaj, Iran in 2021, among whom 300 were selected using convenience sampling method. Data were collected using Alipour et al.’s CDA Scale, Garnefski & Kraaij’s Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Simons & Gaher’s Distress Tolerance Questionnaire, and were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation method and path analysis in Amos software. The results demonstrated that the model fits the research data. According to the results, the path of positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies to CDA was mediated by distress tolerance (β=-0.17, P<0.05) and the path of negative cognitive emotion regulation strategies to CDA was mediated by distress tolerance (β=0.25, P<0.01) significantly. According to the results of the current research, it can be said that targeting the three components of positive and negative cognitive emotion regulation as well as distress tolerance in relation to treatments and psychological services can be effective for the elderly during the spread of coronavirus.