Mediation effect of social support on the association between hardiness and immune response

The objective of the present study was to examine the mediation effect of social support on the association between hardiness and immune response. 200 people living with HIV within the age range of 19 to 54 years from different district of Chhattisgarh state were selected on the basis of purposive sampling technique as participants of the study. The Correlational research design was employed. The immune response was measured by CD4 T- lymphocyte counts. Hardiness was measured by psychological hardiness scale (Singh, 2008). Social support was measured by Social Support Scale (Pandey and Shrivastava, 2016). Mediation effect was worked out by structural equation model (SEM). Significance of mediation was examined by bootstrap. The result of the study indicated that total effect of hardiness on immune response reduced when social support was included in model. Bootstrap confirmed the mediation effect. The hypothetical mediation model showed statistical good model fit, indicating significant positive effect of social support on immune response. It is concluded that there is sufficient empirical and statistical evidence of the mediation effect of social support on the association between hardiness and immune response. The theoretical and practical issues have been discussed.