A Conditional Process Model to Explain Somatization During Coronavirus Disease 2019 Epidemic: The Interaction Among Resilience, Perceived Stress, and Sex

Abstract

BackgroundMore than 15% of Chinese respondents reported somatic symptoms in the last week of January 2020. Promoting resilience is a possible target in crisis intervention that can alleviate somatization.ObjectivesThis study aims to investigate the relationship between resilience and somatization, as well as the underlying possible mediating and moderating mechanism, in a large sample of Chinese participants receiving a crisis intervention during the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic.MethodsParticipants were invited online to complete demographic information and questionnaires. The Symptom Checklist-90 somatization subscale, 10-item Connor–Davidson resilience scale, and 10-item Perceived Stress Scale were measured.ResultsA total of 2,557 participants were included. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that lower resilience was associated with more somatic symptoms (p < 0.001). The conditional process model was proved (indirect effect = −0.01, 95% confidence interval = [−0.015, −0.002]). The interaction effects between perceived stress and sex predicted somatization (b = 0.05, p = 0.006).ConclusionResilience is a key predictor of somatization. The mediating effects of perceived stress between resilience and somatization work in the context of sex difference. Sex-specific intervention by enhancing resilience is of implication for alleviating somatization during the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic.

Do Psychological Resilience and Emotional Intelligence Vary Among Stress Profiles in University Students? A Latent Profile Analysis

“…A negative significant relationship was found between the level of stress and psychological resilience (Hou et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2018;Shangguan et al, 2021;Traunmüller et al, 2021;Yalcin-Siedentopf et al, 2021). However, ELSG and LSG had higher psychological resilience than MSG and EHSG, whereas MSG, HSG, and EHSG did not differ significantly from each other.…”

“…There was a positive and significant relationship between the level of stress and physiological reactions. They seem to have compensated for a high level of stress that they have perceived through somatization (see Hu and Shao, 2016;Shangguan et al, 2021). Furthermore, standards that MSG, HSG and EHSG have imposed on themselves are higher than ELSG and LSG.…”

Jeopardized mental health of children and adolescents in coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

“…Resilience is defined as an ability to recover from stress [ 33 , 34 ]. Shangguan et al [ 35 ] reported that lower resilience is a predictor of somatization, while perceived stress acts as a moderator of resilience and somatization. Perceived stress is more intense and more prevalent among women than among men, revealing a sex-based difference.…”

Fear and Anxiety of COVID-19, Stress and Health Perception. A Predictive Model in Ecuadorian Hospital Patients

“…This usually happens due to the extensive and long periods of stressful situations that people experience in events such as natural disasters or wars (Fan et al, 2015). The current pandemic is not an exception and causes a decrease in people's ability to resist, thus, several psychological effects derived from stress are revealed, such as sleep problems (insomnia, early awakening, waking up during the night, nightmares), anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Rojas & Mazón, 2021), somatization disorders (Shangguan, 2021), in addition to worry and suicidal ideation (Killgore et al, 2020) for example.…”