Association between psychological capital and depressive symptoms during COVID-19: The mediating role of perceived social support and the moderating effect of employment pressure.

Introduction: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affects individuals' mental health that can result in fear of getting COVID-19 infection and depression. Prior research has demonstrated that both psychological capital and perceived social support are related to the severity of depression. Yet no study explored the direction of associations between these factors. This undermines the validity of psychological capital as a basis for health interventions. Methods: This study aimed to explore the association between psychological capital, perceived social support, employment pressure, and depressive symptoms during COVID-19. A cross-sectional design was employed in a sample of 708 Chinese senior medical students who were asked to complete an online questionnaire survey. Results: Results indicated that psychological capital negatively predicts depressive symptoms (ß = -0.55, p < 0.001); perceived social support plays a mediating role in the impact of psychological capital on depressive symptoms (indirect = -0.11, SE = 0.02, p < 0.001, 95%CI [-0.16, -0.07]), and these associations were moderated by employment pressure. Medical students with high employment pressure, the negative impact of psychological capital on depressive symptoms was statistically significant (ß = -0.37, SE = 0.05, p < 0.001, 95% CI [-0.046, -0.27]); when the perceived employment pressure was low, the negative effect of psychological capital on depressive symptoms, although significant, was stronger (ß = -0.49, SE = 0.04, p < 0.001, 95% CI [-0.57, -0.40]). Discussion: The current study highlights that it is of great significance to address Chinese medical students' employment pressure and improve their mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Risk preference, risk perception, and purchase recovery period: Empirical evidence from salmon contamination of COVID-19 in China

This paper investigates the recovery period of consumer salmon purchase intention after food scares at the Xinfadi wholesale market in China during the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the impact mechanism of risk preference and risk perception on the period duration. Our empirical analysis is based on a survey of 655 salmon consumers in Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai. We estimate that the purchase intention recovery period lasts 21 weeks among the surveyed consumers after the shock. Although the epidemic risk levels of the three cities are different, there is a significant difference only in the recovery period from 5 to 7th weeks. The Cox proportional hazards model results further show that consumers with less risk-averse are more active in resuming purchase intention, and the effect of risk perception is just the opposite. Moreover, risk perception has a moderating effect on risk preference and recovery period. Finally, we put forward three possible policy implications: attaching nucleic acid detection certificate, strengthening cold chain management, and diversifying cooking methods.