Author(s):
Eisenbeck, Nikolett ; Carreno, David F. ; Wong, Paul T.P. ; Hicks, Joshua A. ; María, Ruíz Ruano García ; Puga, Jorge L. ; Greville, James ; Testoni, Ines ; Biancalani, Gianmarco ; López, Ana Carla Cepeda ; Villareal, Sofía ; Enea, Violeta ; Schulz-Quach, Christian ; Jansen, Jonas ; Sanchez-Ruiz, Maria Jose ; Yıldırım, Murat ; Arslan, Gökmen ; Cruz, José Fernando A. ; Sofia, Rui Manuel ; Ferreira, Maria José ; Ashraf, Farzana ; Wąsowicz, Grażyna ; Shalaby, Shahinaz M. ; Amer, Reham A. ; Yousfi, Hadda ; Chukwuorji, John Bosco Chika ; Guerra, Valeschka M. ; Singh, Sandeep ; Heintzelman, Samantha ; Hutapea, Bonar ; Béjaoui, Bouchara ; Dash, Arobindu ; Schlosser, Karoly Kornel ; Anniko, Malin K. ; Rossa, Martin ; Wongcharee, Hattaphan ; Avsec, Andreja ; Kocjan, Gaja Zager ; Kavčič, Tina ; Leontiev, Dmitry A. ; Taranenko, Olga ; Rasskazova, Elena ; Maher, Elizabeth ; García-Montes, José Manuel
Date: 2021
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10437/14733
Origin: ReCiL - Repositório Científico Lusófona
Subject(s): PSICOLOGIA; COPING; MCCS; COVID-19; BEM-ESTAR; PSYCHOLOGY; COPING; MCCS; COVID-19; WELL-BEING
Description
Background/Objective: This study examined the role of different psychological coping mechanisms in mental and physical health during the initial phases of the COVID-19 crisis with an emphasis on meaning-centered coping. Method: A total of 11,227 people from 30 countries across all continents participated in the study and completed measures of psychological distress (depression, stress, and anxiety), loneliness, well-being, and physical health, together with measures of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, and a measure called the Meaning-centered Coping Scale (MCCS) that was developed in the present study. Validation analyses of the MCCS were performed in all countries, and data were assessed by multilevel modeling (MLM). Results: The MCCS showed a robust one-factor structure in 30 countries with good test-retest, concurrent and divergent validity results. MLM analyses showed mixed results regarding emotion and problem-focused coping strategies. However, the MCCS was the strongest positive predictor of physical and mental health among all coping strategies, independently of demographic characteristics and country-level variables. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the MCCS is a valid measure to assess meaning-centered coping. The results also call for policies promoting effective coping to mitigate collective suffering during the pandemic.
