The Mediating Role of General Self-Efficacy and Distress Tolerance in the Relationship between Life Expectancy and Corona Anxiety in Adults

In recent years, people around the world have been exposed to the Coronavirus and its aftermath. It seems that paying attention to Corona is important from a psychological point of view, despite quarantine and social distance, observing double hygiene, using masks and health advice, and changing people's lifestyles in general. More than two years after the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the infection and death of many people around the world as a result of the virus, a wave of psychological pressure has swept through communities. Corona anxiety seems to be one of the most common problems and challenges in societies after the occurrence and spread of corona. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy and distress tolerance in the relationship between life expectancy and corona anxiety.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. The statistical population consists of adults aged 20 to 45 years who answered the questionnaires electronically in cyberspace (by sharing the questionnaire link in WhatsApp and Telegram groups). From these individuals, 291 samples were selected using the existing method for the structural model. The time of the research was September 2021. Instruments were Snyder's 12-item life expectancy questionnaire, the 18-item Corona Anxiety Scale, the 15-item Simmons and Gahr Distress Scale, and the 17-item Scherer General Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Pearson torque correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling technique with SPSS version 24 and AMOS software. Bootstrap analysis based on Macro Preacher and Hayes (2008) was also used to test the significance of indirect paths.

The results showed that the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between life expectancy and corona anxiety in individuals was significant. Mediator analyzes showed that self-efficacy plays a mediating role in the relationship between life expectancy and corona anxiety. While the mediating role of distress tolerance in the relationship between life expectancy and corona anxiety was not significant in individuals and this means that distress tolerance does not mediating role in the relationship between these two variables and distress tolerance cannot change the relationship between corona anxiety and life expectancy.

Based on the results of the present study, it seems that self-efficacy can reduce corona anxiety by affecting life expectancy because this study showed that although increasing corona anxiety does not change life expectancy; however, life expectancy improves with increased self-efficacy despite increased corona anxiety. On the other hand, the results of this study showed that distress tolerance does not play a role in corona anxiety and life expectancy, which means that increasing or decreasing distress tolerance does not change the relationship between corona anxiety and life expectancy.