Abstract
BackgroundCOVID-19 outbreak have a long-term negative impact on mental health. Meanwhile, it may also provide opportunities for positive outcomes (e.g., post-traumatic growth). Resilience and social support could serve as psychological resources to protect individuals against the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 crisis and enable people to develop positive changes during challenging times.ObjectiveBy testing the roles of resilience and social support in the relationship between COVID-19 related stress and negative mental health outcomes (depression and anxiety), as well as the relationship between COVID-19 related stress and positive mental health outcomes (post-traumatic growth, PTG), this study aimed to investigate the psychological mechanisms involved in different mental health outcomes induced by COVID-19.MethodsAn online survey was conducted 1 year after the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak (from April to August 2021) in China. The survey includes demographic questionnaires and six scales: the Impact of Event Scale-Revised for COVID-19 (IES-RC), the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). The structural equation model (SEM) was used to evaluate the relations and mechanisms between COVID-19 related stress and resilience, social support in depression, anxiety, and PTG.ResultsA total of 771 Chinese subjects completed the questionnaire, including 416 (54%) females. COVID-19 related stress was associated with anxiety (P < 0.001), PTG (P < 0.001), and depression (P < 0.001). Resilience was related to depression (P < 0.001), anxiety (P < 0.001), and PTG (P < 0.001). Social support was associated with depression (P < 0.001), anxiety (P < 0.001), and PTG (P < 0.001). Under SEM analysis, resilience mediated the effects of COVID-19 related stress on depression and post-traumatic growth. Social support mediated the impacts of COVID-19 related stress on post-traumatic growth, depression, and anxiety. The path coefficients of the mediation effects were statistically significant.ConclusionsThe current findings suggest that COVID-19 related stress has a double-edged effect on mental health. Depression, anxiety, and PTG coexist in Chinese individuals 1 year after the peak of the pandemic. Resilience and social support serve as important protective factors of mental health, safeguard people from the negative mental health outcomes of the COVID-19, and promote PTG.
Highlights
The Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic began as viral pneumonia in China in December 2019 and has posed a severe threat to people’s mental health globally with its lethal spread
We found similar results in social support, which was negatively associated with depression [r(769) = −0.482, P < 0.001] and anxiety [r(769) = −0.384, P < 0.001], but positively associated with Post-traumatic growth (PTG) [r(769) = 0.355, P < 0.001]
The present study supported three of our hypotheses, which were (a) COVID-19 related stress was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic growth; (b) resilience and social support were negatively associated with depression and anxiety but positively associated with post-traumatic growth; (c) resilience and social support mediated the relationship between COVID-19 related stress and mental health outcomes
Summary
The Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic began as viral pneumonia in China in December 2019 and has posed a severe threat to people’s mental health globally with its lethal spread. A nationwide survey conducted at the peak of the pandemic in China reported that around 35% of the respondents experienced psychological distress [1] Another Chinese study found that 53.8% of the respondents had experienced psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on a moderate or severe level, with 8.1% of respondents reporting moderate to severe stress levels by early 2020 [2]. These negative mental health outcomes may attribute to the stress induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, as some researchers indicated that COVID-19 related stress made people more vulnerable to developing mental health issues [3, 4]. Resilience and social support could serve as psychological resources to protect individuals against the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 crisis and enable people to develop positive changes during challenging times
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