The Impact of Chinese College Students' Perceived Stress on Anxiety During the COVID-19 Epidemic: The Mediating Role of Irrational Beliefs.

Zhang Chi,Lin Nuoxun,Liu Haihua,Liu Qian

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.731874

Zhang Chi, Lin Nuoxun + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.731874

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Abstract

Objective: To explore the underlying mechanism of the impact of perceived stress on anxiety of the Chinese college students during the COVID-19 epidemic.Methods: The Perceived Stress Scale, Irrational Belief Scale, and General Anxiety Scale were adopted in the current study. College students were randomly selected for online questionnaire survey. There were 1,598 valid questionnaires, and the proportion of women was 47.81%.Results: The perceived stress and anxiety, as well as the three dimensions of irrational beliefs (catastrophizing, low frustration tolerance, and depreciation) were significantly positively correlated; demandingness was not significantly correlated with anxiety. Further analysis found that the perceived stress had a significant positive predictive effect on the anxiety of college students. Catastrophizing, low frustration tolerance, and depreciation played part of the mediating role, and there was no significant difference in the strength of these mediating roles.Conclusion: The perceived stress of the COVID-19 epidemic had a positive effect on the anxiety of Chinese college students, this was partly mediated by irrational beliefs.

Highlights

On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) [1]
The current study examined the relationships between the perceived stress, irrational beliefs, and anxiety among Chinese college students during the COVID-19 epidemic
The current study advanced our knowledge of how anxiety, which is more common than depression during the epidemic [31], was affected by irrational beliefs

Summary

Introduction

On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) [1]. COVID-19 spreads quickly around the world with a comparatively high infection rate. It threats the world by the lack of effective vaccines or specific remedies and its high fatality rate [2]. Studies have shown that the physical damage caused by such public health emergencies can be recovered in a short period of time, but the psychological damage will exist for a long period [3]. It is very necessary to provide the public with psychological support as soon as possible in response to the COVID-19

Results

Discussion

Conclusion