Chu Gage M, Goger Pauline, Malaktaris Anne, Lang Ariel J
VA San Diego Healthcare System, USA.
University of California San Diego (UCSD), 3350 La Jolla Village Dr., San Diego, CA 92161, USA.
J Affect Disord Rep. 2022 Apr;8:100325. doi: 10.1016/j.jadr.2022.100325. Epub 2022 Feb 10.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to psychological distress among community samples and university students. Some coping behaviors and cognitive appraisals allow individuals to experience positive psychological growth amid such a crisis (Folkman et al. 1986). In the event of continuing waves of COVID-19 infection and future viral outbreaks, understanding the relationships between coping behaviors, stress appraisals, and COVID-related distress and growth can empower public health officials and university leadership to mitigate negative consequences and encourage growth.
774 undergraduate students completed online self-report measures of coping (Brief COPE; emotion, problem, avoidant), stress appraisal (SAM; threat/centrality, challenge/self-efficacy, uncontrol, other-control), neuroticism (NEO-N), health anxiety (SHAI), and COVID-19 exposure/impact (C-PIQ; distress and growth). Hypotheses were examined via simple regressions and interactions.
Increased utilization of avoidant coping was associated with high levels of distress regardless of whether it was perceived as threatening or not. Emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies were associated with more growth, whereas avoidant coping was associated with less growth. Higher emotion-focused coping and challenge appraisal together predicted the most growth.
Cross-sectional design precludes the tracking of distress and growth over time; this study relied on self-report data.
These results underscore the impact of stress appraisals on the mental health of students navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings may inform public health messaging-or have clinical implications, as successful interventions exist for improving coping strategies and stress appraisals.
新冠疫情已导致社区样本和大学生出现心理困扰。一些应对行为和认知评估使个体能够在这样的危机中实现积极的心理成长（福克曼等人，1986年）。在新冠病毒持续感染浪潮及未来病毒爆发的情况下，了解应对行为、压力评估与新冠相关困扰和成长之间的关系，能够使公共卫生官员和大学领导层减轻负面后果并促进成长。
774名本科生完成了应对方式（简易应对方式问卷；情绪、问题、回避）、压力评估（应激评估量表；威胁/核心性、挑战/自我效能感、不可控、他人控制）、神经质（大五人格问卷中的神经质分量表）、健康焦虑（健康焦虑量表）以及新冠病毒暴露/影响（新冠疫情影响问卷；困扰和成长）的在线自评测量。通过简单回归和交互作用检验假设。
无论是否被视为具有威胁性，增加回避应对方式的使用都与高水平的困扰相关。以情绪为中心和以问题为中心的应对策略与更多的成长相关，而回避应对则与较少的成长相关。更高水平的以情绪为中心的应对和挑战评估共同预测了最多的成长。
横断面设计无法追踪困扰和成长随时间的变化；本研究依赖自我报告数据。
这些结果强调了压力评估对经历新冠疫情的学生心理健康的影响。研究结果可能为公共卫生信息提供参考——或具有临床意义，因为存在改善应对策略和压力评估的成功干预措施。
