Access to Epidemic Information and Life Satisfaction under the Period of COVID-19: the Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and the Moderating Role of Friendship Quality.
Baojuan Ye: Center of Mental Health Education and Research, School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Aven ue, Nanchang, 330022 China. ORCID
Jing Hu: Center of Mental Health Education and Research, School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Aven ue, Nanchang, 330022 China.
Gensen Xiao: University High School, 4771 Campus Dr, Irvine, CA 92612 USA.
Yanzhen Zhang: Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521 USA.
Mingfan Liu: Center of Mental Health Education and Research, School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Aven ue, Nanchang, 330022 China.
Xinqiang Wang: Center of Mental Health Education and Research, School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Aven ue, Nanchang, 330022 China.
Qiang Yang: School of Education, Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Avenue, Nanchang, 330022 China.
Fei Xia: School of Education, Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Avenue, Nanchang, 330022 China.
The present study mainly focused on college students amidst the COVID-19 outbreak and aimed to develop and examine a moderated mediation model between access to epidemic information and life satisfaction. Friendship quality as a moderator, and perceived stress as a mediator. A sample of 1032 college students participated in this study and completed questionnaires regarding access to epidemic information, perceived stress, friendship quality, and life satisfaction. Findings indicated that 1) access to epidemic information was strongly related to life satisfaction; 2) perceived stress acts as a mediator in the positive relationship between access to epidemic information and life satisfaction; 3) friendship quality moderated the relationship between access to epidemic information and perceived stress as well as perceived stress and life satisfaction, and such that there was a stronger association between access to epidemic information and perceived stress for college students with high friendship quality. But the relationship between perceived stress and life satisfaction became weaker for college students with high friendship quality. The results illuminate the mechanism to theoretical and practical implications for improving college students' life satisfaction during the pandemic.
