ABSTRACT

Psychological resilience is considered to constitute an important factor for protecting mental health, especially during times of crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. However, there is a lack of research on the potential buffering effect of resilience on the psychological impact of COVID-19 as related to mental health. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine protective effects of resilience on mental health during the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in Austria. Analysis was based on data collected from 4,113 Austrian residents, who participated in an anonymous online survey. The survey addressed sociodemographic data, the subjective response to COVID-19 (Impact of Event Scale; IES-R), mental health status (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale; DASS-21), and resilience (Resilience-Scale; RS-11). Structural equation modelling showed significant positive associations between the IES-R score and depressive symptoms, stress and anxiety, respectively. Resilience was significantly negatively associated with depression, stress, and anxiety. Furthermore, resilience moderated the relation between the impact of COVID-19 and anxiety symptoms. However, there was no moderating effect of resilience on the relationship between IES-R and both depression and stress. The psychological impact of COVID-19 on anxiety symptoms seems to vary with the level of resilience. Moderating effects of resilience on the relation between impact of COVID-19 and stress and depression symptoms could not be confirmed. Further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of resilience on stress and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

摘要

心理复原力被认为是保护心理健康的重要因素，特别是在危机时期，如 COVID-19 大流行爆发。然而，缺乏关于复原力对与心理健康相关的 COVID-19 心理影响的潜在缓冲作用的研究。因此，本研究的目的是探讨奥地利 COVID-19 爆发初期复原力对心理健康的保护作用。分析基于 4,113 名奥地利居民参与的匿名在线调查收集的数据。该调查涉及社会人口统计数据、对 COVID-19 的主观反应（事件影响量表；IES-R）、心理健康状况（抑郁焦虑压力量表；DASS-21）和复原力（复原力量表；RS-11）。结构方程模型显示 IES-R 评分分别与抑郁症状、压力和焦虑之间呈显着正相关。复原力与抑郁、压力和焦虑显着负相关。此外，复原力调节了 COVID-19 的影响与焦虑症状之间的关系。然而，复原力对 IES-R 与抑郁和压力之间的关系没有调节作用。COVID-19 对焦虑症状的心理影响似乎随复原力水平的不同而变化。尚无法证实复原力对 COVID-19 影响与压力和抑郁症状之间关系的调节作用。需要进一步研究来评估 COVID-19 大流行期间恢复力对压力和心理健康的长期影响。