Family Cohesion and Stress Consequences Among Chinese College Students During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

Family plays a pivotal role in individuals' mental health. During the COVID-19 epidemic, people were being quarantined at home to prevent the further spread of the virus. Therefore, the influence of family on individuals is more significant than usual. It is reasonable to assume that family cohesion can effectively alleviate the stress consequences during the COVID-19 epidemic. In the present study, a moderated mediation model was constructed to examine the mechanisms underlying the association between family cohesion and stress consequences among Chinese college students. A large sample of Chinese college students (N = 1,254, Mage = 19.85, SDage = 1.29) participated in the study. Results indicated that family cohesion was negatively related to stress consequences. Fear of COVID-19 partially mediated the link between family cohesion and stress consequences. Excessive affective empathy reported by participants served to aggravate the relation between fear of COVID-19 and stress consequences. The study helps us understand how internal and external factors affect individual mental health that provides meaningful implications for promoting mental health.

Impacts of Stress Response and Negative Emotion on Mental Health of College Students During the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…The results further revealed that college students' negative emotion played a mediating role in the relationship between stress response and mental health. The result was consistent with the prior research, which showed that, during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China, Chinese college students' emotional distress played a partial mediating role in the relationship between infection risk and mental health ( 22 ). This result was partially consistent with a related study, which found that fear of COVID-19 played a mediating role in the relationship between family cohesion and stress consequences ( 23 ).…”

COVID-19 Daily Realities for Families: A South African Sample

“…The current study’s findings on family time highlight how COVID-19 contributed to the formation of closer social bonds amongst families, that were non-existent and increased overall appreciation of each other during. Similarly, these findings are supported by another study conducted by Zeng and colleagues [ 52 ], which found that family cohesion mitigated the fear of COVID-19 resulting in positive parent-child outcomes, in stressful conditions. Additionally, emerging research on COVID-19 has also found a change in societal norms and traditional gender roles for men and women.…”

“…Through the home quarantine process, both Chinese and Turkish parents were able to spend more time with their children at home and interact with them. Conversely, a variety of family research has found that family connectedness is a protective factor that can buffer challenging outcomes related to stressful conditions [ 52 ]. The current study’s findings on family time highlight how COVID-19 contributed to the formation of closer social bonds amongst families, that were non-existent and increased overall appreciation of each other during.…”

The Predictive Effects of Family and Individual Wellbeing on University Students' Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Indeed, while family support has been found to help college students release stress during the pandemic (Zhen et al, 2021 ), conflicts in the family exerted an additional burden on family members (Wu et al, 2020 ; Zainal Badri and Wan Mohd Yunus, 2022 ). Our proposition is also indirectly supported by Zeng et al's ( 2021 ) study. They found that high family cohesion (i.e., good relationships, communication, and few conflicts) reduced Chinese college students' stress responses to COVID-19.…”