Patterns of Psychological Responses among the Public during the Early Phase of COVID-19: A Cross-Regional Analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the mediation of psychological flexibility, prosociality and coping in the impacts of illness perceptions toward COVID-19 on mental health among seven regions. Convenience sampled online survey was conducted between April and June 2020 from 9130 citizens in 21 countries. Illness perceptions toward COVID-19, psychological flexibility, prosociality, coping and mental health, socio-demographics, lockdown-related variables and COVID-19 status were assessed. Results showed that psychological flexibility was the only significant mediator in the relationship between illness perceptions toward COVID-19 and mental health across all regions (all <i>p</i>s = 0.001-0.021). Seeking social support was the significant mediator across subgroups (all <i>p</i>s range = <0.001-0.005) except from the Hong Kong sample (<i>p</i> = 0.06) and the North and South American sample (<i>p</i> = 0.53). No mediation was found for problem-solving (except from the Northern European sample, <i>p</i> = 0.009). Prosociality was the significant mediator in the Hong Kong sample (<i>p</i> = 0.016) and the Eastern European sample (<i>p</i> = 0.008). These findings indicate that fostering psychological flexibility may help to mitigate the adverse mental impacts of COVID-19 across regions. Roles of seeking social support, problem-solving and prosociality vary across regions.