Relationship between resilience and mental health among COVID-19 bereaved people: the mediating role of dual process coping

Ther Adv Psychopharmacol. 2025 Apr 3;15:20451253251328607. doi: 10.1177/20451253251328607. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: People bereaved due to COVID-19 may face mental health challenges and posttraumatic growth opportunities. Resilience, as an inherent trait or ability, may protect the bereaved from developing mental health problems and facilitate growth. The Dual Process Model (DPM) is an important framework for understanding adaptation after bereavement. However, little is known about whether resilience could help with adjusting to COVID-19 bereavement and whether dual process coping plays a part in the relationship between resilience and mental health among COVID-19 bereaved individuals.

OBJECTIVE: We aim to examine the relationship between resilience and symptoms of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic growth following COVID-19 bereavement, and to investigate the role of dual process coping, which includes loss-oriented (LO) coping, restoration-oriented (RO) coping, and oscillation between LO coping and RO coping in this relationship.

DESIGN: This is an online cross-sectional survey.

METHOD: A total of 408 Chinese participants who lost a close person due to COVID-19 participated in the study from September to October 2020. Demographic and loss-related information was collected. Resilience, dual process coping, symptoms of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic growth were measured. Correlation analyses and mediation analyses were conducted to analyze the data.

RESULTS: Resilience was negatively correlated with anxiety and depressive symptoms and positively correlated with posttraumatic growth. In the relationship between LO coping, RO coping, oscillation, and mental health, LO coping was positively associated with prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, as well as posttraumatic growth; RO coping was negatively associated with prolonged grief symptoms and posttraumatic growth, and positively associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms; oscillation was negatively associated with prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. In addition, mediation analysis showed that oscillation mediated the relationship between resilience and anxiety and depressive symptoms, and RO coping mediated the relationship between resilience and depressive symptoms and posttraumatic growth.

CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that among individuals who have experienced bereavement due to COVID-19, RO coping serves a protective role in the relationship between resilience and depressive symptoms and a facilitative role in the relationship between resilience and posttraumatic growth. Additionally, oscillation plays a protective role in the association between resilience and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Professionals should consider the bereaved individuals’ resilience, LO coping, RO coping, and oscillation when providing support to those bereaved by COVID-19.

PMID:40191688 | PMC:PMC11970072 | DOI:10.1177/20451253251328607