Patterns of Psychological Responses among the Public during the Early Phase of COVID-19: A Cross-Regional Analysis

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 8; p. 4143
• Main Authors: Chong, Yuen Yu, Chien, Wai Tong, Cheng, Ho Yu, Lamnisos, Demetris, Ļubenko, Jeļena, Presti, Giovambattista, Squatrito, Valeria, Constantinou, Marios, Nicolaou, Christiana, Papacostas, Savvas, Aydin, Gökçen, Ruiz, Francisco J, Garcia-Martin, Maria B, Obando-Posada, Diana P, Segura-Vargas, Miguel A, Vasiliou, Vasilis S, McHugh, Louise, Höfer, Stefan, Baban, Adriana, Neto, David Dias, Silva, Ana Nunes da, Monestès, Jean-Louis, Alvarez-Galvez, Javier, Blarrina, Marisa Paez, Montesinos, Francisco, Salas, Sonsoles Valdivia, Őri, Dorottya, Kleszcz, Bartosz, Lappalainen, Raimo, Ivanović, Iva, Gosar, David, Dionne, Frederick, Merwin, Rhonda M, Gloster, Andrew T, Karekla, Maria, Kassianos, Angelos P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14-04-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Communicable Disease Control; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Demographic variables; Demography; Hong Kong - epidemiology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Illnesses; Mental depression; Mental health; Problem solving; Psychology; Regional analysis; Regional planning; SARS-CoV-2; Social interactions; Social support; Subgroups; Hong Kong; Hong Kong China; United States > US; Asia; China; Europe; COVID-19; psychological flexibility; survey; prosociality; mental health
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18084143

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
s = 0.001-0.021). Seeking social support was the significant mediator across subgroups (all
s range = <0.001-0.005) except from the Hong Kong sample (
= 0.06) and the North and South American sample (
= 0.53). No mediation was found for problem-solving (except from the Northern European sample,
= 0.009). Prosociality was the significant mediator in the Hong Kong sample (
= 0.016) and the Eastern European sample (
= 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.