Saleem Muhammad, Bakar Abou, Durrani Areeha Khan, Manzoor Zubair
Department of Applied Psychology, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Department of Management Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Front Psychiatry. 2021 Aug 2;12:560059. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.560059. eCollection 2021.
Perceived severity of COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) is known to be associated with mental health of people in general and health professionals in particular in Western societies. However, its association with the mental health of students in Pakistan, which is predominantly a Muslim society, remains unclear so far. Moreover, the role of Muslim religiosity for such an association has not yet been investigated. We aimed to examine the association and report findings on the impact of perceived severity on mental health with a sample of students from all five provinces of Pakistan. We did a cross-sectional online survey from 1,525 Pakistani students in March 2020 using standardized measurement tools. We then determined the prevalence of perceived severity among students and its impact on their mental health. The strength of associations between these variables was estimated using generalized linear models, with appropriate distribution and link functions. Structural equation modeling through SmartPLS (3.0) software was utilized to analyze the results. The perceived severity of COVID-19 is significantly associated with mental health of Pakistani students, whereas Muslim religiosity is a strong mediator between perceived severity and mental health of Pakistani students. Though the perceived severity of COVID-19 is associated with mental health, this relationship can be better explained by the role of Muslim religiosity. When tested individually, the perceived severity accounted for only 18% variance in mental health that increased up to 57% by the mediating role of Muslim religiosity. This difference clearly indicates the mediating role of Muslim religiosity in the association between perceived severity and mental health for Pakistani students.
众所周知，在西方社会，对新冠病毒病（SARS-CoV-2）的感知严重程度与一般人群尤其是卫生专业人员的心理健康有关。然而，在巴基斯坦这个主要为穆斯林社会的国家，其与学生心理健康的关联至今仍不明确。此外，穆斯林宗教信仰在这种关联中所起的作用尚未得到研究。我们旨在通过对来自巴基斯坦所有五个省份的学生样本进行调查，来研究这种关联，并报告关于感知严重程度对心理健康影响的研究结果。2020年3月，我们使用标准化测量工具对1525名巴基斯坦学生进行了横断面在线调查。然后，我们确定了学生中感知严重程度的患病率及其对他们心理健康的影响。使用广义线性模型估计这些变量之间的关联强度，并采用适当的分布和链接函数。通过SmartPLS（3.0）软件进行结构方程建模来分析结果。新冠病毒病的感知严重程度与巴基斯坦学生的心理健康显著相关，而穆斯林宗教信仰是感知严重程度与巴基斯坦学生心理健康之间的有力中介因素。虽然新冠病毒病的感知严重程度与心理健康有关，但穆斯林宗教信仰的作用能更好地解释这种关系。单独测试时，感知严重程度仅解释了心理健康中18%的方差，而通过穆斯林宗教信仰的中介作用，这一方差增加到了57%。这种差异清楚地表明了穆斯林宗教信仰在巴基斯坦学生感知严重程度与心理健康之间的关联中所起的中介作用。
