Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 14;18(24):13171. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182413171.
Despite several empirical studies on the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that have highlighted its detrimental effect on individuals' mental health, the identification of psychological factors that may moderate its impact on individuals' behavior and well-being remains partly unexplored. The present study was conceived to examine the mediation role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy in the relationship between positivity and anxiety, depression, and perceived self-efficacy in complying with the containment measures to contrast the COVID-19 spread. Furthermore, the moderation role of age was tested. A sample of 1258 participants (64.2% women; M = 42.09, SD = 13.62) enrolled from the Italian general population answered an online survey aimed at investigating the role of individual differences in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. We opted for a snowball recruiting procedure to find participants. The online survey was disseminated through email invitation and using social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Instagram). A multi-group path analysis model was performed using Mplus 8.4 to explore the hypothesized relations among variables. The following criteria were employed to evaluate the goodness of fit: χ likelihood ratio statistic, CFI and TLI > 0.95, RMSEA < 0.06 and SRMR < 0.08. The findings corroborated the protective role of both positivity and regulatory emotional self-efficacy in reducing individuals' anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as in fostering individuals' capabilities in complying with the containment measures imposed by the government to reduce the risk of illness and to contain the spread of the virus COVID-19. Specifically, regulatory emotional self-efficacy beliefs partially mediated the relations between positivity and anxiety and depressive symptoms and fully mediated the effect of positivity on perceived self-efficacy beliefs in complying with the containment measures. These paths were equal across ages. The results of the present study appear relevant to implementing psychological interventions aimed to reduce the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health through the promotion of individuals' optimistic orientation and emotion regulation.
尽管有几项关于 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行的实证研究强调了它对个人心理健康的不利影响，但对于可能调节其对个人行为和幸福感影响的心理因素的识别仍部分未得到探索。本研究旨在检验积极情绪与焦虑、抑郁和遵守遏制措施以对抗 COVID-19 传播的感知自我效能感之间关系的调节情绪自我效能感的中介作用。此外，还测试了年龄的调节作用。从意大利一般人群中招募了 1258 名参与者（64.2%为女性；M=42.09，SD=13.62）参加了一项在线调查，旨在调查个体差异在应对 COVID-19 大流行中的作用。我们选择了滚雪球招募程序来寻找参与者。在线调查通过电子邮件邀请和社交媒体平台（即 Facebook、Instagram）进行传播。使用 Mplus 8.4 进行多组路径分析模型，以探索变量之间的假设关系。采用以下标准评估拟合优度：χ 似然比统计量、CFI 和 TLI>0.95、RMSEA<0.06 和 SRMR<0.08。研究结果证实了积极情绪和调节情绪自我效能感在减轻个体焦虑和抑郁症状以及增强个体遵守政府为降低疾病风险和控制病毒 COVID-19 传播而实施的遏制措施的能力方面的保护作用。具体来说，调节情绪自我效能感信念部分中介了积极情绪与焦虑和抑郁症状之间的关系，并完全中介了积极情绪对遵守遏制措施的感知自我效能感的影响。这些路径在年龄之间是相等的。本研究的结果对于实施旨在通过促进个体的乐观取向和情绪调节来减轻 COVID-19 大流行对心理健康的不利影响的心理干预措施具有重要意义。
