Psychiatry Investig.  2021 May;18(5):392-399. 10.30773/pi.2020.0455.

The Role of Event-Related Rumination and Perceived Social Support on Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from Greater Daegu Region in South Korea

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Psychology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
  • 2Department of Psychology, Gachon University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea

Abstract


Objective
Research on psychological distress from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has increased significantly, but the factors that can exacerbate or mitigate such distress have remained underexplored. To address the research gap, this study examined whether two types of rumination and perceived social support predict psychological distress during the pandemic.
Methods
Participants were recruited from communities of the greater Daegu area (n=316) where the first massive outbreak in South Korea occurred and most residents underwent substantial disruption of daily life. They completed self-report questionnaires that included measures of psychological distress, event-related rumination, and social support.
Results
The hierarchical regression analysis showed that maladaptive intrusive rumination and perceived social support predicted increases and decreases in psychological distress, respectively, even when subjective severity of COVID-19-related experiences was controlled. Putatively adaptive type of rumination (i.e., deliberate rumination) was not a significant predictor concurrently.
Conclusion
This is among the early endeavors to comprehensively understand risk and protective factors associated with an effective coping strategy against the COVID-19 crisis. Our results indicate that intrusive rumination aggravates but social support mitigates psychological distress during the pandemic, indicating that we can better adapt by differently attending to recent experiences and maintaining perceived social support.

Keyword

COVID-19, Mental health, Intrusive rumination, Social support
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