Self-control moderates the association between perceived severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and mental health problems among the Chinese public

Li, J.-B., Yang, A., Dou, K. and Cheung, R. Y. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0998-7991 (2020) Self-control moderates the association between perceived severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and mental health problems among the Chinese public. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17 (13). 4820. ISSN 1660-4601 doi: 10.3390/ijerph17134820

Abstract/Summary

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused thousands of deaths in China. Prior research suggests that individuals’ perceived severity of COVID-19 is related to a range of negative emotional and behavioral reactions among the Chinese public. However, scant research has examined the underlying mechanisms. Drawing upon the risk-resilience model, this study proposes that self-control, as a resilient factor, would potentially moderate the association between perceived severity of COVID-19 and mental health problems. Data from a national survey was used to examine this idea. Participants were 4607 citizens from 31 regions in China (Mage = 23.71 years, 72.5% female) who completed a national survey at the beginning of February 2020. Results of hierarchical regression showed that after controlling for a number of demographic variables, perceived severity of COVID-19 and self-control were positively and negatively related to mental health problems, respectively. More importantly, self-control moderated the “perceived severity of COVID-19–mental health problems” association, with this link attenuating as the levels of self-control increased. These findings suggest that compared to those with high self-control, individuals with low self-control are more vulnerable and are more in need of psychological aids to maintain mental health in the encounter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Practically, enhancing individuals’ self-control ability might be a promising way to improve individuals’ mental health during the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/107942
Identification Number/DOI	10.3390/ijerph17134820
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items
Publisher	MDPI AG
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