Background/Objective
This study examined the role of different psychological coping mechanisms in mental and physical health during the initial phases of the COVID-19 crisis with an emphasis on meaning-centered coping.
Method
A total of 11,227 people from 30 countries across all continents participated in the study and completed measures of psychological distress (depression, stress, and anxiety), loneliness, well-being, and physical health, together with measures of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, and a measure called the Meaning-centered Coping Scale (MCCS) that was developed in the present study. Validation analyses of the MCCS were performed in all countries, and data were assessed by multilevel modeling (MLM).
Results
The MCCS showed a robust one-factor structure in 30 countries with good test-retest, concurrent and divergent validity results. MLM analyses showed mixed results regarding emotion and problem-focused coping strategies. However, the MCCS was the strongest positive predictor of physical and mental health among all coping strategies, independently of demographic characteristics and country-level variables.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that the MCCS is a valid measure to assess meaning-centered coping. The results also call for policies promoting effective coping to mitigate collective suffering during the pandemic.
Most research on the pandemic today assumes that this situation is stressful and requires coping. The aim was to study subjective well-being in the situation of the pandemic and its relationship to coping and anxiety about coronavirus. 409 people filled Satisfaction With Life Scale, Scale of Positive And Negative Experiences, situational version of COPE, checklists assessing anxiety of infection and anxiety of the negative consequences of the pandemic. The comparison groups were three samples of 98, 66 and 293 people who filled Satisfaction With Life Scale and Scale of Positive And Negative Experiences in 2017 and 2019. There was a lower level of positive emotions among respondents in a situation of self-isolation, but the same level of satisfaction with life and negative emotions. Anxiety about the pandemic is related to higher negative emotions only. Emotionally oriented coping strategies and mental disengagement are associated with a higher level of pandemic anxiety. Problem-oriented and active coping strategies are weakly associated with lower anxiety that could be explained by the lack of ready effective methods of resolving this new and uncertain situation. Anxiety associated with current, acute and imminent risk (such as risk of infection), concentration on emotions and acceptance may not be dysfunctional strategies, as they are not associated with deterioration in overall well-being. On the contrary, attempts to cope with anxiety regarding negative consequences of a pandemic by mental disengagement, substance use and denial are associated with a lower level of satisfaction with life.
The paper studies the relationship of the anxiety of different types in the situation of the pandemic with the search for information about coronavirus and with protective actions. This research included 409 respondents uninfected by coronavirus aged 18 to 64 years old within a period of three weeks to one month from the start of self-isolation. The participants have appraised the severity of their anxiety caused by various reasons associated with the pandemic, the frequency of monitoring the information and communications about coronavirus, and the frequency of different protective actions against coronavirus. As a result, two aspects have been identified in the structure of the anxiety about coronavirus: the fear of the infection and anxiety about negative consequences. The fear of the consequences of the pandemic is characteristic of every third person, and it does not depend on sex and age. In one out of 11—12 persons, it is the experience that interferes with usual activities. A pronounced fear of infection was found in one person out of 5—10 respondents; it is more characteristic of women and older people. In addition to the infection prevention strategies, 10.8% of the variance of the infection anxiety and 10.6% variance of the anxiety about the negative effects of the pandemic predicts information monitoring, communications about the pandemic and usage of optional but common protection strategies and ambiguous strategies. The obtained results are consistent with our supposition that deliberate control of the information stream and unverified strategies of the protective behavior may contribute to reducing the anxiety in the situation of the pandemic while preserving the protective actions that have been found to be effective.
SUMMARYThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects of intention to fall asleep on sleep quality in good sleepers using polysomnographic and subjective nap parameters. We hypothesized that high intention to sleep would lead to arousal, worsening sleep quality. A counterbalanced 2 9 2 experimental design with one intra-individual (neutral versus motivating instruction) and one inter-individual (instruction sequence) variable was used. Thirty-three good sleepers (22 females; mean age: 24.1 AE 8.4 years) each attended two 1-h daytime polysomnographic recording sessions in the laboratory. When providing motivating instruction, the experimenter insisted on the importance of falling asleep as quickly as possible and promised a financial reward. Compared with neutral instruction, motivating instruction was associated with increased waking after sleep onset, number of awakenings and arousal index during napping. No relationship between instruction and subjective nap appraisal was found. The effect of high intention on sleep fragmentation remained significant after controlling for habitual napping, depression, anxiety and sleepiness. Thus, our findings suggest that high intention to fall asleep worsened sleep quality, especially in terms of sleep fragmentation, in good sleepers.
Cognitive insight, although not linked to objective indicators of ultra-high risk for schizophrenia, predicts a decline in both total score of SOPS, and in the Positive symptoms subscale during the treatment of patients with personality disorders. In the groups with mood disorders and schizotypal disorder, cognitive insight reflects more anxiety and uncertainty related to patients' experience rather than the true conscious criticism. In the group with schizotypal disorder, it is also closely related to the severity of subjective psychopathological symptoms.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.