Role of self-esteem and personal mastery on the association between social support and resilience among COVID-19 long haulers

Abstract

Although the COVID-19 mortality rate is declining, the number of individuals dealing with persistent COVID-19 symptoms is increasing worldwide, making long COVID a global public health concern. People with long COVID (long haulers) often deal with physical and mental stressors. Long haulers’ psychological resilience could play a key role in coping with these stressors in intercorrelation with psychosocial resources. The current study aims to test a hypothesized relationship between social support and its functions (i.e., instrumental and emotional) and the resilience of long haulers through serial mediation by personal mastery and self-esteem. A cross-sectional and self-administered online survey was conducted among 460 individuals with long COVID recruited from COVID-19 Facebook support groups in the United States. Analyzing data indicated a positive correlation between social support and the resilience of long haulers. Structural equation modeling suggested that self-esteem and personal mastery fully mediated the association between social (instrumental) support and resilience. Personal mastery also mediated the association between self-esteem and resilience in social (instrumental) support models. However, in the emotional support model, the indirect effect was non-significant for the mediation by personal mastery and self-esteem. Findings suggest that social support, mainly instrumental support, may protect long haulers by promoting their resilience through self-esteem and personal mastery. This study emphasizes the importance of including social support services in designing programs for COVID-19 long haulers.