The psychological distress and coping styles in the early stages of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic in the general mainland Chinese population: a web-based survey
Open accessPreprint — published as 10.1371/journal.pone.0233410
Abstract
Background: As the epidemic outbreak of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), general population may experience psychological distress. Evidence has suggested that negative coping styles may be related to subsequent mental illness. Therefore, we investigate the general population’s psychological distress and coping styles in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: A cross-sectional battery of surveys was conducted from February 1-4, 2020. The Kessler 6 psychological distress scale, the simplified coping style questionnaire and a general information questionnaire were administered on-line to a convenience sample of 1599 in China. Spearman’s correlation was used to measure the correlations among category variables. Results: General population’s psychological distress were significant differences based on age, marriage, epidemic contact characteristics, concern with media reports, and perceived impacts of the epidemic outbreak (all p <0.001) except gender ( p =0.316). Those with a history of visiting Wuhan and a history of epidemics occurring in the community, more concern with media reports, perceived more severe impacts and negative coping style had a higher level of psychological distress, which was significantly positively correlated with a history of visiting Wuhan (r=0.548, p <0.001), a history of epidemics occurring in the community (r=0.219, p <0.001), and concern with media reports (r=0.192, p <0.001). Coping styles were significantly different across all category variables (all p <0.001), and negatively correlated with other category variables (all p <0.01) except age and marriage. Psychological distress was significantly negatively correlated with the coping style (r=-0.573, p <0.01). Conclusions: In the early stages of COVID-19, general population with epidemic contact characteristics, excessive concern with media reports, and perceived more severe impacts have higher levels of psychological distress. Psychological distress was significantly negatively correlated with the coping style. Interventions should be implemented early, especially for those population with a high level of psychological distress and/or with a negative coping style.
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Worldwide, use of positive-reframing, acceptance, and humor has been associated with better mental health during the pandemic, whereas use of passive and avoidant emotion-focused strategies (e.g., self-blame, venting, behavioral disengagement, self-distraction) has been associated with poorer mental health.
“Worldwide, the use of some problem- and emotion-focused strategies such as positive-reframing, acceptance, and humor has been associated with better mental health during the pandemic, whereas the use of passive and avoidant emotion-focused strategies (e.g., self-blame, venting, behavioral disengagement, self-distraction) has been associated with poorer mental health [32,33,34,35]”
From Gender Differences in Coping and Psychological Adaptation during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2023) · cites this paper as [34]
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredNegative coping styles are associated with higher psychological distress.
“negative coping styles are associated with higher psychological distress [24,25]”
From Seroprevalence of COVID-19 and Psychological Distress among Front Liners at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah Campus during the Third Wave of COVID-19 (2022) · cites this paper as [25]
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References 34 · Cited by 347
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Xie, Yaning. Reliability and validity of the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology. 1999; 6:114-115. doi: 10.16128/j.cnki.1005-3611.1998.02.018. · DOI
- Dai Xiaoyang. ChangYong Xinli PingGu LiangBiao ShouCe 2nd ed. In Xie Yaning, Dai Xiaoyang editors. The Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire. Beijing: People's Military Medical Press; 2015. pp. 99-101. (In Chinese)
- Authors
- Wang, H.-Y., Xia, Q., Xiong, Z.-Z., Li, Z.-X., Xiang, W.-Y., Yuan, Y.-W., Liu, Y.-Y., & Li, Z.
- Affiliations
- Sichuan University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Li, Zhe
- ORCID
- Li, Zhe
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- openRxiv
- Published
- 2020-03-30
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e0233410-e0233410
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7224553
- OpenAlex
- W3025421208
- Cited by
- 347
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 86 · 2021: 125 · 2020: 60 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 30.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften (ZB MED) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, psychological distress, coping styles, general population, risk factors, marital status, emotional control, psychological intervention, mainland China
- MeSH terms
- Betacoronavirus, Psychological Distress, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, China, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pneumonia, Viral, Surveys and Questionnaires, Linear Models, Coronavirus Infections, Internet, Young Adult, Pandemics
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