Stress Response on Behavioral Response of University Students During the Peak Period of COVID-19

Abstract

Background This study aimed to explore the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between stress response and behavioral response and to develop a moderated mediation model with stress management and risk cognition. Methods We developed 4 novel questionnaires, namely, stress response questionnaire, behavioral response questionnaire, stress management questionnaire, and risk cognition questionnaire. A total of 5896 university students in China were investigated during the peak period of the coronavirus disease 2019. Results The results showed that stress response had a significant negative predictive effect on behavioral response ( r = −0.489 , P < .001). Moreover, stress management had a partial mediating effect between stress response and behavioral response. Risk cognition plays a moderating effect on the mediation model ( β = −0.109 , P = .030), and the effect of high-risk cognition is more significant. Conclusion During the coronavirus disease 2019 period, improving the risk awareness of university students will help to enhance the buffering effect of stress management on behavioral response and indirectly reduce their behavioral response.

A Cross-Sectional Survey of National Chinese College Students’ Mental Status during COVID-19 Pandemic: Using a Compiled Stress Response Questionnaire

“…Furthermore, combining principal component analysis with the gravel plot test yielded seven factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, and the cumulative variance explanation rate was 55.92%. Considering that the factor loadings ranged from 0.45 to 0.87, the structural validity of this scale was acceptable [28,29]. Table 1 presents the results of factor loadings.…”