COVID-19-Related Intolerance of Uncertainty and Mental Health among Back-To-School Students in Wuhan: The Moderation Effect of Social Support

Lijun Zhuo, Qian Wu, Hong Le, Hao Li, Ling Zheng, Guoqing Ma and Hongbing Tao
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Lijun Zhuo: School of Medicine and Health Management of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Qian Wu: School of Medicine and Health Management of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Hong Le: School of Medicine and Health Management of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Hao Li: School of Medicine and Health Management of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Ling Zheng: School of Medicine and Health Management of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Guoqing Ma: School of Medicine and Health Management of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Hongbing Tao: School of Medicine and Health Management of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: The current wave and future trend of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has triggered public uncertainty, causing unbearable psychological pressure on people. A cross-sectional online questionnaire was conducted among back-to-school students in Wuhan from 31 August 2020, to 14 September 2020, by using convenience sampling. A total of 1017 participants voluntarily provided sociodemographic characteristics and accomplished the following scales: the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS-12), the Social Support Scale (SSQ), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Insomnia Severity Index-7 (ISI-7). Results revealed that the levels of anxiety, depression, and insomnia were moderate, moderate and subthreshold, respectively. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance indicated that those with different attitudes toward the trajectory of the COVID-19 epidemic in China showed significantly different results in anxiety and depression ( p < 0.001 ). Moderation modeling implicated that social support significantly moderated the predictive relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and mental health variables including anxiety and depression, but failed on insomnia. Findings indicate that back-to-school students in Wuhan experience mental health problems and improving social support measures could buffer the effect of intolerance of uncertainty with respect to COVID-19 on mental health.

Keywords: intolerance of uncertainty; social support; mental health; college students; 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 references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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