Changes in Stress, Coping Styles, and Life Satisfaction between the First and Second Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Study in a Sample of University Students

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to explain the interplay mechanism between stress, life satisfaction, and coping styles among university students. A cohort study was performed during the first (wave 1; W1) and second (wave 2; W2) waves of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The total sample included 231 university students, of which 59.31% were women. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) were included in one online survey. Stress, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented coping styles increased from W1 to W2 of the COVID-19 pandemic, while life satisfaction and task-oriented coping decreased. The partial mediation effect of all three coping styles during W1 and W2 (in a cross-sectional approach) on the relationship between perceived stress and life satisfaction was confirmed in this study. The task-oriented and emotion-oriented coping styles can play a mediating role in the reciprocal relationship between life satisfaction and perceived stress during W1 and W2 of the pandemic. There were no mutual interactions between stress and life satisfaction from a longitudinal approach. Coping styles changed subsequently due to stressful environmental changes related to lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Having a wide range of coping strategies from which to choose during an unstable situation should help manage stress and well-being.

Keywords: avoidance-oriented coping; college students; coping styles; emotion-oriented coping; life satisfaction; perceived stress; satisfaction with life; task-oriented coping; university students.

Figure 1

Flow chart of the study sample by recruitment strategy during each wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 2

Differences between the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in (a) satisfaction with life; (b) perceived stress; and (c) task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented coping styles. * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001.

Figure 3

Path model of mediation of the effect of perceived stress on satisfaction with life, via coping styles; cross-sectional design (Model 1 and Model 2). * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

Figure 4

Path model of mediation for the effect of perceived stress on satisfaction with life, via coping styles; cross-sectional design (Model 3 and Model 4). * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001.

Figure 5

Conceptual cross-lagged path model for a prospective study on the parallel mediation role of coping styles in the relationship between perceived stress and satisfaction with life during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic: (a) perceived stress as a predictor of life satisfaction (Model 5); (b) life satisfaction as a predictor of perceived stress (Model 6).

Figure 6

Conceptual reciprocal cross-lagged path model for a prospective study on the parallel mediation role of coping styles in the relationship between perceived stress and satisfaction with life.