Combined effect of compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding on Chinese college students’ mental health during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: a response surface analysis

Autor: Luming Liu, Yang Li, Qingyun Yu, Xinchun Wu, Wenchao Wang
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: European Journal of Psychotraumatology, Vol 15, Iss 1 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 20008066
2000-8066
DOI: 10.1080/20008066.2024.2360281
Popis: Background: The initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly deteriorated mental health, especially among college students. Self-compassion has demonstrated benefits for psychological outcomes such as depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Notably, existing literature suggests that the protective and vulnerable aspects within the Self-Compassion Scale, namely, compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding (CSR and USR), can coexist within individuals and influence their mental health through various coexisting patterns. However, this process has not been sufficiently explored.Objective: This study aimed to explore the combined effects of CSR and USR on college students’ depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, PTSS, and PTG during the initial wave of the pandemic.Method: In this cross-sectional study, 4450 Chinese college students (51.9% females, Mage = 20.58 years, SD = 1.49) completed self-report measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic’s initial wave in 2020. Response surface analyses were utilised to investigate the combined effects of CSR and USR.Results: Simultaneously increased CSR and USR were associated with a slight increase in depressive symptoms, PTSS, and life satisfaction, but a substantial increase in PTG. Conversely, increased CSR and decreased USR were associated with a considerable decrease in depressive symptoms and PTSS, a significant increase in life satisfaction, and a moderate increase in PTG.Conclusions: CSR and USR demonstrated protective and vulnerable impacts, respectively. It is imperative to analyse their combined effects as an interactive system and consider the specific characteristics of different psychological responses.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals