The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived stress among Romanian young adults : negative affect and avoidant coping as mediators
Background and objectives:Although young adults were considered to face a lower risk of severe coronavirus infection, they were at higher risk for adverse psychosocial effects. The aim of this study was to test the me-diating roles of negative affect and avoidant coping, firstly in the relation-ship...
| Autores: | , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Murcia |
| Repositorio: | DIGITUM. Depósito Digital Institucional de la Universidad de Murcia |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digitum.um.es:10201/137115 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.534641 http://hdl.handle.net/10201/137115 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Estrés percibido Impacto de la pandemia COVID-19 Perceived stress Impact of COVID-19 CDU::1 - Filosofía y psicología::159.9 - Psicología |
| Sumario: | Background and objectives:Although young adults were considered to face a lower risk of severe coronavirus infection, they were at higher risk for adverse psychosocial effects. The aim of this study was to test the me-diating roles of negative affect and avoidant coping, firstly in the relation-ship between COVID-19 impact and perceived stress, and then in the rela-tionship between perceived coronavirus threat and perceived stress. Design:Cross-sectional design. Methods: We conducted the study on a sample of 669 university students (aged between 18-28), during the critical fourth wave, when the delta variant was the dominant strain. Results: The results indicate significant positive associations between the impact of COVID-19 and perceived stress (r = .485; p<.001), and between perceived corona-virus threat and perceived stress (r= .283; p<.001). Our findings demon-strate that negative affect and avoidant coping serially mediate these rela-tionships (total indirect effect = .3349, 95% CI, [.2858; .3852] / (total indi-rect effect = .2072, 95% CI, [.1515; .2624]). Thus, the impact of COVID-19 (β= .137; 95% CI [.0019; .0045]) and perceived coronavirus threat (β= .069; 95% CI [.0007; .0046]) induce an increase in stress not only directly, but also indirectly, through amplified negative affect, which in turn increases the specific-oriented use of avoidant coping strategies. Conclusions:Our results highlighted some new explanatory relationships between variables that affect mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
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