Patterns of psychological responses among the public during the early phase of COVID-19: A cross-regional analysis

Chong Y.Y. ; Chien W.T. ; Cheng H.Y. ; Lamnisos D. ; Lubenko J. ; Presti G. ; Squatrito V. ; Constantinou M. ; Nicolaou C. ; Papacostas S. ; Aydin G. ; Ruiz F.J. ; Garcia-Martin M.B. ; Obando-Posada D.P. ; Segura-Vargas M.A. ; Vasiliou V.S. ; McHugh L. ; Höfer S. ; Baban A. ; Neto D.D. ; da Silva A.N. ; Monestès J.-L. ; Alvarez-Galvez J. ; Blarrina M.P. ; Montesinos F. ; Valdivia Salas S. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Ori D. ; Kleszcz B. ; Lappalainen R. ; Ivanovic I. ; Gosar D. ; Dionne F. ; Merwin R.M. ; Gloster A.T. ; Karekla M. ; Kassianos A.P.

Resumen: 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. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18084143

Año: 2021

Publicado en: International journal of environmental research and public health 18, 8 (2021), 4143 [19 pp]
ISSN: 1661-7827

Factor impacto JCR: 4.614 (2021)

Categ. JCR: PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH rank: 45 / 183 = 0.246 (2021) - Q1 - T1
Categ. JCR: PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH rank: 71 / 210 = 0.338 (2021) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES rank: 100 / 279 = 0.358 (2021) - Q2 - T2

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 4.5 - Medicine (Q2) - Environmental Science (Q2)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.814 - Pollution (Q1) - Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis (Q1)

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Person.Eval.Trat.Psicoló. (Dpto. Psicología y Sociología)