Perceived Severity of the Epidemic and Depression: A Joint Moderated Mediation Model

Gao Fengqiang; Han Ting; Sang Mohan; Zhan Yanru; Han Lei

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240429

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (4) : 998-1007. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240429

Clinical Psychology & Consulting

Perceived Severity of the Epidemic and Depression: A Joint Moderated Mediation Model

Gao Fengqiang, Han Ting, Sang Mohan, Zhan Yanru, Han Lei

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Abstract

Major public health emergencies pose significant threats to the public's physical and mental health, such as depression. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism in the relationship between the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic and depression. According to the transactional theory of stress and coping, it is necessary to explore the influencing factors and mechanism of the relationship between cognition of stress events (perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic) and depression. The level of cyberchondria in people during the COVID-19 epidemic was higher than that during the nonepidemic period. Individuals with cyberchondria have a negative cognitive bias, and negative cognition can positively predict depression. In addition, according to the stress-cognitive vulnerability model of response styles, rumination may interact with stressful events or daily disturbances to exacerbate depression, and there are significant gender differences in rumination. The reason women have higher levels of depression than men may be that women tend to ruminate as a way of coping than men. Therefore, this study attempted to explore the relationship between the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic and depression, the mediating role of cyberchondria, and the joint moderating role of rumination and gender.
In this study, the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic (predictor variable), cyberchondria (mediator variable), rumination (moderator variable), gender (moderator variable), and depression (outcome variable) were used to develop a joint moderated mediation model. The convenience sampling method was adopted, and questionnaires were distributed via the Wenjuanxing platform, which provides functions equivalent to the Amazon Mechanical Turk. The Data were collected from 503 participants during the severe epidemic period in China (January 24 to February 22, 2020). The participants' average age of 22.94 ± 5.68 years. The evaluation tools used included the Perceived Severity of the COVID-19 Epidemic Questionnaire, the depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, the Cyberchondria Scale, and the Ruminative Responses Scale.
The path analysis results showed that the higher the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic was, the higher the individual's depression level. Cyberchondria mediated the relationship between the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic and depression. Individuals with higher perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic were more likely to develop cyberchondria, thus increasing their depression level. Rumination moderated the relationship between the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic and depression and moderated the relationship between cyberchondria and depression. A high level of rumination increased the predictive effects of the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic on depression and cyberchondria on depression. However, when the rumination level was low, the predictive effect of the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic on depression was weakened, and cyberchondria had no significant effect on depression prediction. Rumination and gender jointly moderated the relationship between the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic and depression. There was no significant difference in the predictive effect of the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic on depression in women with high rumination compared with that in women with low rumination. The predictive effect of the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic on depression in men with high rumination was greater than that in men with low rumination.
The results showed that the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic affected depression through cyberchondria, and rumination and gender played a joint moderating role. This study reveals the influencing mechanism of the perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic on depression and provides a research basis and insight for reducing the impact of the epidemic on individuals' depression.

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perceived severity of the COVID-19 epidemic / depression / cyberchondria / rumination / gender

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Gao Fengqiang, Han Ting, Sang Mohan, Zhan Yanru, Han Lei. Perceived Severity of the Epidemic and Depression: A Joint Moderated Mediation Model[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2024, 47(4): 998-1007 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240429

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