Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7530, South Africa
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is a major global stressor that has been associated with elevated risk of negative mental health symptoms. As a helping profession, our main task should be identifying factors that may shield individuals from the negative consequences of stress, rather than only focusing on the causes and symptoms of stress. One such factor, identified in the literature, is an individual’s perception of their problem-solving skills. In this study we investigate the role of problem-solving appraisal in the association between perceived stress and psychological well-being. Participants were students (n = 322) who completed the Problem Solving Inventory, the Perceived Stress Scale, the short forms of the trait scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. The results demonstrate the health-sustaining benefits of problem-solving appraisal, as all dimensions of problem-solving appraisal (problem-solving confidence, approach-avoidance style, and problem-solving control) were directly associated with hopelessness and anxiety. The stress-buffering role of problem-solving appraisal with respect to hopelessness was demonstrated through the interaction between perceived stress and problem-solving appraisal. However, problem-solving appraisal did not buffer the effects of stress on anxiety. The findings indicate that problem-solving appraisal may be an important protective resource that could be beneficial for coping with other negative events and experiences beyond COVID-19. The implications of these findings for interventions are discussed.
Funder
South African Medical Research Council
Subject
Health Information Management,Health Informatics,Health Policy,Leadership and Management
Reference65 articles.
1. Mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal probability sample survey of the UK population;Pierce;Lancet Psychiatry,2020
2. Longitudinal changes in mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study;Daly;Psychol. Med.,2022
3. Yang, C., Chen, A., and Chen, Y. (2021). College students’ stress and health in the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of academic workload, separation from school, and fears of contagion. PLoS ONE, 16.
4. College Student Stressors: A Review of the Qualitative Research;Hurst;Stress Health,2013
5. Pope, D. (2022, December 04). Student Stress during the Pandemic. Available online: https://ed.stanford.edu/news/student-stress-during-pandemic.
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献