Psychological impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic on Chinese people: Exposure, post-traumatic stress symptom, and emotion regulation
Hong-juan Jiang1, Jiang Nan2, Zhi-yue Lv3, Juan Yang4
1 Department of Psychology, The First Affliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China 2 Student Affairs Office, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China 3 Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China 4 Key Laboratory of Emegency and Trauma of Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Brain Science Research & Transformation in Tropical Environment of Hainan Province, Department of Psychology, The First Affliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China
Correspondence Address:
Juan Yang Key Laboratory of Emegency and Trauma of Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Brain Science Research & Transformation in Tropical Environment of Hainan Province, Department of Psychology, The First Affliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199 China Zhi-yue Lv Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199 China
 Source of Support: The study was supported by the research grant from Hainan Medical University (No. XGZX2020003), the fund from Working Committee for Talents of Hainan Province (No. 20192166), the Project of Basic Platform of National Science and Technology Resources of the Ministry of Sciences and Technology of China (No. TDRC-2019-194-30), Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (No. 2019B030316025), and the 111 Project (No. B12003). This council had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication, Conflict of Interest: None  | 62 |
DOI: 10.4103/1995-7645.281614
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Objective: To examine the effects of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) exposure, expressive suppression/cognitive reappraisal, and demographic variables on post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTS) among Chinese.
Methods: Participants were recruited by social media through WeChat and 6 049 Chinese (aged from 17 to 63 years; median=24) from 31 provinces were included in the study. PTS symptoms, expressive suppression, and cognitive reappraisal were assessed after the outbreak of COVID-19. A regression mixture analysis was conducted in Mplus 7.
Results: A regression mixture model identified three latent classes that were primarily distinguished by differential effects of COVID- 19 exposures on PTS symptoms: (1) Class 1 (mildly PTS symptoms, 80.9%), (2) Class 2 (moderate PTS symptoms, 13.0%), and (3) Class 3 (high PTS symptoms, 6.1%). The results demonstrated that the young, women and people with responsibilities and concerns for others were more vulnerable to PTS symptoms; and they had more expression inhibition and less cognitive reappraisal in three latent classes.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that more attention needs to be paid to vulnerable groups such as the young, women and people with responsibilities and concerns for others. Therapies to encourage emotional expression and increase cognitive reappraisal may also be helpful for trauma survivors.
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