Abstract
This study was aimed to explore the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on elementary school students from cross-level perspective. With a cross-section survey, 823 elementary school students (Mage = 11.89, SD = 1.30) from 49 classes participated in the survey, which includes participants’ demographic variables (e.g., gender) and studied variables assessing by depression, anxiety, COVID-19 related stress and other relevant variables. The hierarchical linear model was used to analyze the relationship among studied variables. Results showed that the detection rate of elementary school students’ anxiety and depression symptoms were 24.2% and 23.3% respectively, which was higher than that before the pandemic broke out. For the influencing factors of elementary school student’s psychological symptoms, at the individual level, both online learning satisfaction and problem-based coping strategy were negatively related with student’s psychological symptoms, while both emotion-based coping strategy and pandemic-related stressors were positively related with them. Furthermore, emotion-based coping strategy could strengthen the positive relation between pandemic-related stressors and psychological symptoms. Emotion-based coping strategy (or online learning satisfaction) at the class level positively (or negatively) predicted psychological symptoms. The findings could add new knowledge about the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on elementary school students’ psychological symptoms, and are useful in promoting elementary school students’ mental health when the pandemic broke out.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from corresponding author.
References
Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. The Lancet, 395(10227), 912–920. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8
Gong, Y., Ding, J., Zhang, M., Kang, C., Wang, K., et al. (2020). Relationships among personality traits, resilience and depressive symptoms of students in Wuhan City. Journal of Hygiene Research, 2020(49(2)), 173–178. https://doi.org/10.19813/j.cnki.weishengyanjiu.2020.02.001
Guan, W., Ni, Z., Hu, Y., Liang, W., & Zhong, N. (2020). Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(18), 1708–1720. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032
Han, Z., Tang, X., Li, X., Shen, Y., & Hu, Z. (2021). Covid-19-related stressors and mental health among Chinese college students: A moderated mediation model. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 586062. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.586062
He, X., Li, C., Qian, J., Cui, H., & Wu, W. (2010). Reliability and validity of a generalized anxiety scale in general hospital outpatients. Shanghai Archives of Psychiatry, 22(4), 200–203. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1002-0829.2010.04.002
He, X., Hou, J., Guo, F., & Chen, Z. (2021). The impact of parents’ marital quality on the internalizing problems of elementary students: An analysis of chained mediation. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 29(2), 287–291. https://doi.org/10.16128/j.cnki.1005-3611.2021.02.014
Ke, F., & Kwak, D. (2013). Online learning across ethnicity and age: A study on learning interaction participation, perception, and learning satisfaction. Computers & Education, 61, 43–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.09.003
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
Li, A., Jg, A., My, A., Jf, A., Mei, Q. A., & Rj, B. (2020). Vicarious traumatization in the general public, members, and non-members of medical teams aiding in covid-19 control. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 88, 916–919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.03.007
Li, X., Tang, X., Wu, H., Sun, P., & Li, L. (2021). Covid-19-related stressors and Chinese adolescents’ adjustment: The moderating role of coping and online learning satisfaction. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 633523. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.633523
Lin, X., Liu, R., Zhang, D., & Huang, J. (2021). Status of sleep and exercise during remote learning period for primary school students in one city during the outbreak of COVID-19. Chinese Journal of School Health, 42(4), 547–555. https://doi.org/10.16835/j.cnki.1000-9817.2020.10.008
Main, A., Zhou, Q., Ma, Y., Luecken, L. J., & Liu, X. (2011). Relations of sars-related stressors and coping to Chinese college students\ psychological adjustment during the 2003 Beijing SARS epidemic. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 58(3), 410–423. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023632
Malboeuf-Hurtubise, C., Léger-Goodes, T., Mageau, G. A., Joussemet, M., Herba, C., Chadi, N., & Gagnon, M. (2021). Philosophy for children and mindfulness during COVID-19: Results from a randomized cluster trial and impact on mental health in elementary school students. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 107, 110260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2021.110260
Mei, X., Li, Y., Chen, M., Li, J., & Huang, Y. (2020). Health-related behaviors preventing COVID-19 and associated factors in primary school students in Wuhan. Chinese Journal of School Health, 41(10), 1472–1476. https://doi.org/10.16835/j.cnki.1000-9817.2020.10.008
Neter, J., Wasserman, W., & Kutner, M. H. (1990). Student solutions manual for use with applied linear regression models. Irwin.
O’Brennan, M., Bradshaw, L., C. P., & Furlong, M. J. (2014). Influence of classroom and school climate on teacher perceptions of student problem behavior. School Mental Health, 6(2), 125–136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-014-9118-8
Pfefferbaum, B., & North, C. S. (2020). Mental health and the covid-19 pandemic. New England Journal of Medicine, 383(6), 510–512. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2008017
Qi, M., Zhou, S., Guo, Z., & Zhang, L. (2020). The effect of social support on mental health in Chinese adolescents during the outbreak of covid-19. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(4), 514–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.001
Raskauskas, J. (2010). Multiple peer victimization among elementary school students: Relations with social-emotional problems. Social Psychology of Education, 13(4), 523–539. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-010-9124-0
Schneiderman, N., Ironson, G., & Siegel, S. D. (2005). Stress and health: Psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1(1), 607–628. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.144141
Xie, Y. (1998). The research on the reliability and validity of the brief coping strategy questionnaires. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 6(2), 114–115. https://doi.org/10.16128/j.cnki.1005-3611.1998.02.018
Xiong, N., Fritzsche, K., Wei, J., Hong, X., Leonhart, R., Zhao, X., et al. (2015). Validation of patient health questionnaire (PHQ) for major depression in Chinese outpatients with multiple somatic symptoms: A multicenter cross-sectional study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 174, 636–643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.12.042
Xu, J., Lin, D., Wang, J., Hu, W., Zhang, H., & Xu, G. X. (2008). Comparison of influential factors for depressive symptoms among primary school students in Hefei and Shenzhen. Chinese Mental Health Journal, 22(4), 246–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1872-2075(08)60026-6
Zheng, Q., Qing, T., Shen, Q., Gui, Y., Zhou, X., & Zhao, J. (2020). Current situation, problems and countermeasures of online teaching during epidemic. China Educational Technology, 400(5), 34–43. https://kns.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFD&filename=ZDJY202005007
Zhu, K., Zhou, Y., Xie, X., Wu, H., Xue, Q., Liu, Q., et al. (2020). Anxiety symptom and its associates among primary school students in Hubei Province during novel coronavirus diseases 2019 epidemic. Chinese Journal of Public Health, 36(5), 673–676. https://doi.org/10.11847/zgggws1129050
Funding
This study was funded by Educational Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province, CN (Grant No. 20ZD018).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed the manuscript. LX wrote the paper, YC, SP, ZX, SY, HL, HT carried out data collection, paper editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Disclosure of interest
The authors report no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Yu, C., Sun, P., Zhang, X. et al. A cross-level analysis about the impact of pandemic-related stressors, online learning satisfaction and coping on elementary school students’ psychological symptoms. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05957-y
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05957-y