The Mediating Role of Coping Strategies and Emotion Regulation in the Relationship Between Pain Acceptance and Pain-Related Anxiety.

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that exists all over the world and has a negative effect on people's ability to engage in valuable life activities. The present study was conducted aiming to investigate the mediating role of coping strategies and emotion regulation in the relationship between pain acceptance and pain anxiety. The research design was descriptive, and the sample consisted of 428 students selected via purposive sampling. Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS-20), Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire-8 (CPAQ-8), Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ), The Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI), and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) were used as research tools. The results obtained from the correlation revealed that there is a significant relationship between pain acceptance and pain anxiety, coping strategies, and emotion regulation. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that coping strategies and emotion regulation are able to mediate the relationship between pain acceptance and pain anxiety. In general, results revealed that adaptive coping strategies can be effective in coping with pain; emotional components play an important role in this regard. These results demonstrate the importance of attitude and self-regulation in coping with pain, and suggest that people can expand their adaptation to pain by assessing the situation and adopting an effective coping style.