The Impact of Different Coping Styles on Psychological Distress during the COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress

Yi Ding, Xinchen Fu, Rude Liu, Jacqueline Hwang, Wei Hong and Jia Wang
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Yi Ding: Graduate School of Education, Fordham University, New York, NY 10023, USA
Xinchen Fu: Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Rude Liu: Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Jacqueline Hwang: Graduate School of Education, Fordham University, New York, NY 10023, USA
Wei Hong: Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Jia Wang: Teachers’ College, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100874, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-11

Abstract: The present study aimed to understand the impact of different coping methods endorsed by Chinese college students during COVID-19 through the examination of the mediating role of perceived stress. We recruited a total of 492 undergraduate students to complete an online survey from May to June 2020. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that perceived stress was a significant mediator in the association between different coping styles and psychological distress. Three coping styles, including problem-focused, adaptive emotion-focused, and maladaptive emotion-focused coping styles were all significantly correlated with psychological distress. Perceived stress significantly mediated the association between the three coping styles and psychological distress. The results indicated a full mediation model in which problem-focused coping and adaptive emotion-focused coping affected psychological distress entirely through the mediation of perceived stress. Maladaptive emotion-focused coping positively predicted perceived stress, which in turn positively predicted psychological distress through a partial mediation model. We discuss the implications of these findings and offer suggestions for future research.

Keywords: coping styles; psychological distress; mediating role; perceived stress; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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