Psychological impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic on Chinese people: Exposure, post-traumatic stress symptom, and emotion regulation

• Published in: Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine Vol. 13; no. 6; pp. 252 - 259
• Main Authors: Jiang, Hong-juan, Nan, Jiang, Lv, Zhi-yue, Yang, Juan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Psychology, The First Affliated Hospital, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China%Student Affairs Office, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China%Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China%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 01.06.2020; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: covid-19 exposures; post-traumatic stress symptoms; expressive suppression; cognitive reappraisal; Expressive suppression; Post-traumatic stress symptoms; Cognitive reappraisal; COVID-19 exposures
• ISSN: 1995-7645; 2352-4146
• DOI: 10.4103/1995-7645.281614

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 6049 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.