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. 2020 Jul 4;17(13):4820.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17134820.

Self-Control Moderates the Association Between Perceived Severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Mental Health Problems Among the Chinese Public

Jian-Bin Li  1 , An Yang  2 , Kai Dou  3 , Rebecca Y M Cheung  1
Affiliations

Self-Control Moderates the Association Between Perceived Severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Mental Health Problems Among the Chinese Public

Jian-Bin Li et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; cognitive appraisal; public health concerns; resilience; risk factor; self-control.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The association between perceived severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and meatal health problems by self-control. Note. IV = perceived severity of COVID-19; Mod = moderator (i.e., self-control).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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