TY - JOUR
T1 - Patterns of psychological responses among the public during the early phase of covid-19
T2 - A cross-regional analysis
AU - Chong, Yuen Yu
AU - Chien, Wai Tong
AU - Cheng, Ho Yu
AU - Lamnisos, Demetris
AU - Ļubenko, Jeļena
AU - Presti, Giovambattista
AU - Squatrito, Valeria
AU - Constantinou, Marios
AU - Nicolaou, Christiana
AU - Papacostas, Savvas
AU - Aydin, Gökçen
AU - Ruiz, Francisco J.
AU - Garcia-Martin, Maria B.
AU - Obando-Posada, Diana P.
AU - Segura-Vargas, Miguel A.
AU - Vasiliou, Vasilis S.
AU - McHugh, Louise
AU - Höfer, Stefan
AU - Baban, Adriana
AU - Neto, David Dias
AU - da Silva, Ana Nunes
AU - Monestès, Jean Louis
AU - Alvarez-Galvez, Javier
AU - Blarrina, Marisa Paez
AU - Montesinos, Francisco
AU - Salas, Sonsoles Valdivia
AU - Őri, Dorottya
AU - Kleszcz, Bartosz
AU - Lappalainen, Raimo
AU - Ivanović, Iva
AU - Gosar, David
AU - Dionne, Frederick
AU - Merwin, Rhonda M.
AU - Gloster, Andrew T.
AU - Karekla, Maria
AU - Kassianos, Angelos P.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The study was supported by the Seeding Research Fund, The Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/4/2
Y1 - 2021/4/2
N2 - This study aimed to compare the mediation of psychological flexibility, prosociality and coping in the impacts of illness perceptions toward COVID-19 on mental health among seven regions. Convenience sampled online survey was conducted between April and June 2020 from 9130 citizens in 21 countries. Illness perceptions toward COVID-19, psychological flexibility, prosociality, coping and mental health, socio-demographics, lockdown-related variables and COVID-19 status were assessed. Results showed that psychological flexibility was the only significant mediator in the relationship between illness perceptions toward COVID-19 and mental health across all regions (all ps = 0.001–0.021). Seeking social support was the significant mediator across subgroups (all ps range = <0.001–0.005) except from the Hong Kong sample (p = 0.06) and the North and South American sample (p = 0.53). No mediation was found for problem-solving (except from the Northern European sample, p = 0.009). Prosociality was the significant mediator in the Hong Kong sample (p =0.016) and the Eastern European sample (p = 0.008). These findings indicate that fostering psychological flexibility may help to mitigate the adverse mental impacts of COVID-19 across regions. Roles of seeking social support, problem-solving and prosociality vary across regions.
AB - This study aimed to compare the mediation of psychological flexibility, prosociality and coping in the impacts of illness perceptions toward COVID-19 on mental health among seven regions. Convenience sampled online survey was conducted between April and June 2020 from 9130 citizens in 21 countries. Illness perceptions toward COVID-19, psychological flexibility, prosociality, coping and mental health, socio-demographics, lockdown-related variables and COVID-19 status were assessed. Results showed that psychological flexibility was the only significant mediator in the relationship between illness perceptions toward COVID-19 and mental health across all regions (all ps = 0.001–0.021). Seeking social support was the significant mediator across subgroups (all ps range = <0.001–0.005) except from the Hong Kong sample (p = 0.06) and the North and South American sample (p = 0.53). No mediation was found for problem-solving (except from the Northern European sample, p = 0.009). Prosociality was the significant mediator in the Hong Kong sample (p =0.016) and the Eastern European sample (p = 0.008). These findings indicate that fostering psychological flexibility may help to mitigate the adverse mental impacts of COVID-19 across regions. Roles of seeking social support, problem-solving and prosociality vary across regions.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Mental health
KW - Prosociality
KW - Psychological flexibility
KW - Survey
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85104038712
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18084143
DO - 10.3390/ijerph18084143
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85104038712
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 18
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 8
M1 - 4143
ER -
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being