Coping Styles and the Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation in the Relationship Between the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression

In this project, it was aimed to develop a scale that scans the psychological effects of the COVID-19 epidemic, to examine the coping styles and the mediating effect of emotion regulation methods in the relationship between the psychological effects of the epidemic and the symptoms of depression and anxiety, and to create a website that presents resources that will facilitate coping with the epidemic. In the project, a subject-specific screening scale was developed to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic, and the psychological effects of the COVID-19 epidemic were evaluated with this scale, whose psychometric properties were found to be satisfactory. The results of the study showed that there is a partial mediating effect of increasing positive mood, changing perspective and suppressing between the psychological effects of the epidemic and depression symptoms in the 20-40 age group. When the results were evaluated in terms of anxiety symptoms, only a partial mediating effect of increasing positive mood was found. In terms of coping methods, however, no mediator effect of overcompensation and avoidance was found for depression and anxiety symptoms. In the 41-65 age group, emotion regulation dimensions did not have a mediating effect for depression and anxiety symptoms. Among the coping methods, it was observed that overcompensation had a partial mediating effect only for depression symptoms. In addition, a website (www.covid19psychokdestek.com) that includes information and support sharing has been prepared so that the people participating in the research can cope with the uncertainty we are in, protect their mental health and reach the resources they can apply when they need. According to the results of the study, it was thought that focusing on interpersonal emotion regulation styles of this group and working to increase positive mood by changing the perspective of this group, especially during the therapy processes during the epidemic period, may be beneficial in reducing the symptoms of depression and anxiety. In addition, it was predicted that in intervention programs or therapy processes, coping styles could be focused on, rather than interpersonal emotion regulation in the middle-aged adult group, and that especially the negative features of overcompensation could be studied. In particular, it was thought that it would be beneficial to examine what positive strategies this group used instead of what they did not do while managing difficult processes and to focus on the acquisition of these adaptive skills.