The Relationship Between Quarantine Length and Negative Affect During the COVID-19 Epidemic Among the General Population in China: The Roles of Negative Cognition and Protective Factors

Frontiers in Psychology

Fangfang Long¹  Renlai Zhou¹  Yao Meng²  Lulu Hou³  Weiwei Zhang⁴  Xiaorong Cheng⁵ 

[1] Department of Psychology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China;Department of Psychology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China;School of Nursing, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China;Department of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China;Department of Psychology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China;Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, United States;School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China;

关键词: COVID-19;    quarantine;    depression;    anxiety;    worry;    anticipation;    protective factor;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.575684

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Quarantine and isolation at extended length, although considered as highly effective countermeasures for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) which started at the end of 2019, can have great impact on individual's mental health, especially emotional state. The present research recruited 5,115 participants from the general public across 32 provinces and autonomous regions in China in an online survey study, about 20 days after the lockdown of the epicenter (Wuhan), to investigate the relationship between the length of the quarantine and negative affect (including depression and anxiety), as well as the mediating roles of negative cognition (including worry and anticipation), and the moderating roles of dispositional optimism, tolerance of uncertainty, social support, and healthy behavior. The results showed that: (1) Worry and anticipation mediated the relationship between quarantine length and depression and anxiety; (2) Dispositional optimism moderated the path coefficients of quarantine length to worry, worry to anxiety, and anticipation to depression; (3) Tolerance of uncertainty moderated the path coefficient of worry to anxiety; (4) Social support moderated the path coefficient of anticipation to anxiety. In conclusion, during quarantine, dispositional optimism, uncertainty tolerance, and social support can buffer the direct or indirect effects of quarantine length on depression and anxiety. These findings could have profound implications on the societal responses to COVID-19 and future pandemics.

【 授权许可】

CC BY