Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
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
ps = 0.001–0.021). Seeking social support was the significant mediator across subgroups (all ps range
= <0.001–0.005) except from the Hong Kong sample (p = 0.06) and the North and South American
sample (p = 0.53). No mediation was found for problem-solving (except from the Northern European
sample, p = 0.009). Prosociality was the significant mediator in the Hong Kong sample (p =0.016) and
the Eastern European sample (p = 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.
Description
Keywords
COVID-19 Psychological flexibility Mental health Prosociality Survey
Citation
MDPI Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 18(8) 1-18 doi.: 10.3390/ijerph18084143
Publisher
MDPI Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute