Background: Resilience resources are predispositions that promote individuals’ abilities to cope with stress.
Objective: The current cross-sectional study used path analysis with parallel multiple mediators to test whether coping behaviors mediated associations between resilience resources and somatic, depression, and anxiety symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Method: Undergraduates at a small Northeastern college (n = 193) completed online surveys assessing resilience resources, coping, and symptoms.
Results: Results support significant indirect effects from resilience resources to somatic symptoms through positive reinterpretation and growth, mental disengagement, and substance use. Total indirect effects for depressive symptoms were driven by mental disengagement and substance use, with a direct effect of resilience resources. The effect of resilience resources on anxiety symptoms was mediated by mental disengagement, and there was a direct effect of resilience resources.
Conclusions: Findings demonstrate that some coping strategies link resilience resources to better outcomes, potentially informing interventions for adaptive coping during public health crises.

Guardino, Christine M., Freya Whittaker, Eleanor A. Williams, and Meredith Franchini. Resilience Resources, Coping, and Health Outcomes in College Students During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Journal of American College Health (Article published online November 21, 2023). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2023.2269446

Christine Guardino is a professor of Psychology at Dickinson College.

For more information on the published version, visit Taylor and Francis's Website. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2023.2269446

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