Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on individuals and communities worldwide, resulting in unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety. Current research is focusing on investigating the pandemic’s psychological effects, particularly on mental health and well-being. Researchers are particularly interested in understanding how stressors related to COVID-19 affect individuals’ beliefs and ego resilience. The purpose of the present study is to examine the role of ego resilience and rational/irrational beliefs in the relationship between coronavirus-related stressors and psychological well-being in university students. In this study, 532 young adults residing in Turkey participated, with an age range of 18 to 54 years and a mean age of 23 years (standard deviation = 4.08). The sample consisted of 358 female (67.3%) and 174 male (32.7%). The study results showed that coronavirus-related stressors had significant predictive effects on rational and irrational beliefs and ego resilience. Furthermore, stressors predicted ego resilience through rational and irrational beliefs, and beliefs mediated this association. The mediation results finally reported that ego resilience and irrational beliefs mediated the link between stressors and psychological well-being, yet rational beliefs did not mediate this association. Rational beliefs predicted psychological well-being through ego resilience among young adults. These findings indicate the importance of beliefs in promoting ego resilience and psychological well-being among young adults exposed to adverse experiences during the pandemic.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Angelina, S., Kurniawan, A., Agung, F. H., Halim, D. A., Wijovi, F., Jodhinata, C., Evangelista, N. N., Agatha, C. M., Orlin, S., & Hamdoyo, A. (2021). Adolescents’ mental health status and influential factors amid the Coronavirus Disease pandemic. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 100903. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2021.100903.
Arslan, G., & Coşkun, M. (2022). Coronavirus-related stressors, resilient mindset, loneliness, depressive symptoms in college students: Testing a moderated mediation model. Psychological Reports, 332941221139721. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941221139721.
Arslan, G., & Wong, P. (2024). Embracing life’s challenges: Developing a tool for assessing resilient mindset in second wave positive Psychology. Journal of Happiness and Health, 4(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.47602/johah.v4i1.53
Arslan, G., & Yıldırım, M. (2021). Coronavirus stress, meaningful living, optimism, and depressive symptoms: A study of moderated mediation model. Australian Journal of Psychology, 73(2), 113–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2021.1882273.
Arslan, G., Yıldırım, M., Tanhan, A., Buluş, M., & Allen, K. A. (2021). Coronavirus stress, optimism-pessimism, psychological inflexibility, and psychological health: Psychometric properties of the coronavirus stress measure. International Journal Of Mental Health and Addiction, 19(6), 2423–2439. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00337-6.
Artiran, M. (2019). The adaptation of shortened general attitudes and beliefs scale into turkish: A validity and reliability study. Inonu University Journal of the Faculty of Education, 20(3), 842–858. https://doi.org/10.17679/inuefd.516350.
Asnakew, S., Legas, G., Muche Liyeh, T., Belete, A., Haile, K., Yitbarek, G. Y., & Chanie, E. S. (2021). Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder on health professionals in the era of COVID-19 pandemic, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020: A multi-centered cross-sectional study. PloS one, 16(9), e0255340. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255340.
Atlam, E. S., Ewis, A., Abd El-Raouf, M. M., Ghoneim, O., & Gad, I. (2022). A new approach in identifying the psychological impact of COVID-19 on university student’s academic performance. Alexandria Engineering Journal, 61(7), 5223–5233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2021.10.046.
Avcı, M. (2023). Belongingness, Social Connectedness, and Life Satisfaction in College Students after COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Happiness and Health, 3(2), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.47602/johah.v3i2.43.
Azar, K. M. J., Shen, Z., Romanelli, R. J., Lockhart, S. H., Smits, K., Robinson, S., Brown, S., & Pressman, A. R. (2020). Disparities in outcomes among COVID-19 patients in a large health care system in California. Health Affairs (Project Hope), 39(7), 1253–1262. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00598.
Bak, W., Dutkiewicz, D., & Brudek, P. (2021). Relationship between self-assessed health and life satisfaction in older adults: The moderating role of ego-resiliency. Ageing & Society, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X21001689.
Balkıs, M., & Duru, E. (2022). Irrational/Rational beliefs, procrastination, and life satisfaction: An empirical Assessment of REBT Models of Psychological Distress and Psychological Health Model. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 566–582. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-021-00428-w.
Balkıs, M., & Duru, E. (2023). Negative life events associated with covid-19 and psychological distress: The role of irrational and rational beliefs. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-022-00457-z.
Barouki, R., Kogevinas, M., Audouze, K., Belesova, K., Bergman, A., Birnbaum, L., & HERA-COVID-19 working group. (2021). The COVID-19 pandemic and global environmental change: Emerging research needs. Environment International, 146, 106272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106272.
Block, J., & Kremen, A. M. (1996). IQ and ego-resiliency: Conceptual and empirical connections and separateness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(2), 349–361. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.70.2.349.
Buschmann, T., Horn, R. A., Blankenship, V. R., Garcia, Y. E., & Bohan, K. B. (2018). The relationship between automatic thoughts and irrational beliefs predicting anxiety and depression. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 36, 137–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-017-0278-y.
Chen, B., Sun, J., & Feng, Y. (2020a). How have COVID-19 isolation policies affected young people’s mental health?–Evidence from chinese college students. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1529. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020a.01529.
Chen, H., Liu, F., Pang, L., Liu, F., Fang, T., Wen, Y., Chen, S., Xie, Z., Zhang, X., Zhao, Y., & Gu, X. (2020b). Are you tired of working amid the pandemic? The role of professional identity and job satisfaction against job burnout. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), 9188. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249188.
Chen, Q., Liang, M., Li, Y., Guo, J., Fei, D., Wang, L., He, L., Sheng, C., Cai, Y., Li, X., Wang, J., & Zhang, Z. (2020c). Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(4), e15–e16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30078-X.
Chen, X., He, J., & Fan, X. (2020d). Applicability of the Ego-resilience scale (ER89) in the chinese cultural context: A validation study. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 38(6), 675–691. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282919889242.
Chen, H., Selix, N., & Nosek, M. (2021). Perinatal anxiety and depression during COVID-19. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 17(1), 26–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2020.09.014.
Cole, N. N., Nonterah, C. W., Utsey, S. O., Hook, J. N., Hubbard, R. R., Opare-Henaku, A., & Fischer, N. L. (2015). Predictor and moderator effects of ego resilience and mindfulness on the relationship between academic stress and psychological well-being in a sample of ghanaian college students. Journal of Black Psychology, 41(4), 340–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798414537939.
Cruz, R. A., Peterson, A. P., Fagan, C., Black, W., & Cooper, L. (2020). Evaluation of the brief Adjustment Scale-6 (BASE-6): A measure of general psychological adjustment for measurement-based care. Psychological services, 17(3), 332–342. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000366.
David, D., & Cramer, D. (2009). Rational and irrational beliefs in human feelings and psychophysiology. In D. David, S. J. Lynn, & A. Ellis (Eds.), Rational and irrational beliefs: Research, theory, and clinical practice. Oxford University Press.
David, D., Freeman, A., & DiGiuseppe, R. (2010). Rational and irrational beliefs: Implications formechanisms of change and practice in psychotherapy. In D. David, S. J. Lynn, & A. Ellis (Eds.), Rational and irrational beliefs: Research, theory, and clinical practice (pp. 195–217). Oxford University Press.
Davis, H., & Turner, M. J. (2020). The use of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) to increase the self-determined motivation and psychological well-being of triathletes. Sport Exercise and Performance Psychology, 9(4), 489–505. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000191.
Debowska, A., Horeczy, B., Boduszek, D., & Dolinski, D. (2022). A repeated cross-sectional survey assessing university students’ stress, depression, anxiety, and suicidality in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. Psychological Medicine, 52(15), 3744–3747. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172000392X.
Dempsey, M., & Burke, J. (2021). Flourishing during COVID-19: Exploration of the factors that impacted the wellbeing of school leaders during the pandemic in Ireland. Journal of Happiness and Health, 1(1), 28–39.
Dhar, B. K., Ayittey, F. K., & Sarkar, S. M. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on psychology among the University students. Global Challenges, 4(11), 2000038. https://doi.org/10.1002/gch2.202000038.
DiGiuseppe, R. (2007). Rational emotive behavioral approaches. In H. T. Prout, & D. T. Brown (Eds.), Counseling and psychotherapy with children and adolescents: Theory and practice for school and clinical settings (pp. 279–331). John Wiley & Sons Inc.
DiGiuseppe, R., Leaf, R., Gorman, B., & Robin, M. W. (2018). The development of a measure of irrational/rational beliefs. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 36, 47–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-017-0273-3.
Doyle, K. A., & Terjesen, M. D. (2020). Rational-emotive and cognitive-behavioral treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder among youth. Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches to Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Theory, Practice, Research, Applications, 285–310. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53901-6_14.
Ede, M. O., Okeke, C. I., & Chukwu, C. L. (2021). Assessing the efficacy of rational emotive behavior intervention for visually impaired upper basic school children with negative self-belief/personal value system. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-021-00419-x.
Ellis, A. (1955). New approaches to psychotherapy techniques. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 11, 207–260. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4679(195507)11:3<207::AID-JCLP2270110302>3.0.CO;2-1.
Ellis, A., & Dryden, W. (2007). The practice of rational emotive behavior therapy. Springer publishing company.
Ellis, A., David, D., & Lynn, S. J. (2010). Rational and irrational beliefs: A historical and conceptual perspective. In D. David, S. J. Lynn, & A. Ellis (Eds.), Rational and irrational beliefs: Research, theory, and clinical practice ( (pp. 3–22). Oxford University Press.
Fan, C., Liu, L., Guo, W., Yang, A., Ye, C., Jilili, M., & Wang, Y. (2020). Prediction of epidemic spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus driven by spring festival transportation in China: A population-based study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051679.
Gao, J., Zheng, P., Jia, Y., Chen, H., Mao, Y., Chen, S., & Dai, J. (2020). Mental health problems and social media exposure during COVID-19 outbreak. Plos one, 15(4), e0231924. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231924.
Gordon, J. A., & Borja, S. E. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic: Setting the mental health research agenda. Biological Psychiatry, 88(2), 130–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.05.012.
Guo, J., De Carli, P., Lodder, P., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Riem, M. M. (2022). Maternal mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown in China, Italy, and the Netherlands: A cross-validation study. Psychological Medicine, 52(15), 3349–3359. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720005504.
Hammerstein, S., König, C., Dreisörner, T., & Frey, A. (2021). Effects of COVID-19-related school closures on student achievement-a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.746289.
Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Miller, N., & Haeffel, G. J. (2004). Cognitive vulnerability-stress theories of depression: Examining affective specificity in the prediction of depression versus anxiety in three prospective studies. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 28, 309–345. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COTR.0000031805.60529.0d.
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Partial, conditional, and moderated moderated mediation: Quantification, inference, and interpretation. Communication Monographs, 85(1), 4–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2017.1352100.
Hussong, A. M., Benner, A. D., Erdem, G., Lansford, J. E., Makila, L. M., Petrie, R. C., & SRA COVID-19 Response Team. (2021). Adolescence amid a pandemic: Short‐and long‐term implications. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 31(3), 820–835. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12671.
Hyland, P., Shevlin, M., Adamson, G., & Boduszek, D. (2014). The moderating role of rational beliefs in the relationship between irrational beliefs and posttraumatic stress symptomology. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 42(3), 312–326. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465813000064.
Ifelunni, C. O., Ede, M. O., & Okeke, C. I. (2022). Rational emotive intervention for work-family conflict and female primary school teachers’ well-being. Current Psychology, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03704-9.
Iyeke, P. O., & Lawrence, K. C. (2022). Reducing social anxiety among adolescents in the COVID-19 era: Rational emotive behavior therapy as a counselling approach. International journal of psychology and psychological therapy, 22(1), 77–87.
Jang, C. O. (2018). A study on adolescent psychological adjustment for neglected family. International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology, 6(2), 30–35. https://doi.org/10.17703/IJACT.2018.6.2.30.
Jones, J. K., & Turner, M. J. (2022). Making a difference: A review and auto-ethnographic account of applying rational emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) in policing. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-022-00459-x.
Jung, S. A., & Lee, K. (2016). Effects of ego-resilience ınterventions among children and adolescents in Korea: A meta-analysis. Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 25(3), 237–248. https://doi.org/10.12934/jkpmhn.2016.25.3.237.
Kabasakal, E., & Emiroğlu, O. N. (2020). Determining the relationships between adolescent subjective well-being, self-efficacy, social acceptance level, and irrational beliefs in adolescents. Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, 11(4), 315–322. https://doi.org/10.14744/phd.2020.67044.
Karaırmak, Ö. (2007). Investigation of personal qualities contributing to psyhological resilience among earthquake survivors: A model testing study [Ph.D. - doctoral program]. Middle East Technical University.
Kirby, L., Zolkoski, S.both physical and mental health, O’Brien, K., Mathew, J., Kennedy, B., & Sass, S. (2022). Examining staff and faculty work–life balance and well-being using the dual continua model of mental health during COVID-19. Journal of Happiness and Health, 3(1), 34–48. https://doi.org/10.47602/johah.v3i1.31.
Lathabhavan, R., & Sudevan, S. (2022). The impacts of psychological distress on life satisfaction and wellbeing of the indian general population during the first and second waves of COVID-19: A comparative study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00735-4.
Li, C., & Dewaele, J. M. (2021). How classroom environment and general grit predict foreign language classroom anxiety of Chinese EFL students. Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning, 3(2), 86–98. Retrieved from https://www.jpll.org/index.php/journal/article/view/71.
Li, J., Hallsworth, A. G., & Coca-Stefaniak, J. A. (2020a). Changing grocery shopping behaviours among chinese consumers at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak. Journal of Economic and Social Geography, 111, 574–583. https://doi.org/10.1111%2Ftesg.12420.
Li, J., Sun, Y., Maccallum, F., & Chow, A. Y. (2020b). Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic growth among bereaved adults: A latent class analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 575311. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020b.575311.
Li, W., Yang, Y., Liu, Z. H., Zhao, Y. J., Zhang, Q., Zhang, L., & Xiang, Y. T. (2020c). Progression of mental health services during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. International Journal of Biological Sciences, 16(10), 1732. https://doi.org/10.7150%2Fijbs.45120.
Li, C., Lin, S., Sun, Y., Afshan, S., & Yaqoob, T. (2022). The asymmetric effect of oil price, news-based uncertainty, and COVID-19 pandemic on equity market. Resources Policy, 77, 102740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.102740.
Lindner, H., Kirkby, R. J., Wertheim, E. H., & Birch, P. (1999). A brief assessment of ırrational thinking: The shortened general attitude and belief scale. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 23, 651–663.
Liu, Z., Wu, J., Shi, X., Ma, Y., Ma, X., Teng, Z., & Zeng, Y. (2020). Mental health status of healthcare workers in China for COVID-19 epidemic. Annals of Global Health, 86(1), 128. https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.3005.
Lu, S., Rios, J. A., & Huang, C. C. (2018). Mindfulness, emotion and behaviour: An intervention study with chinese migrant children. Children & Society, 32(4), 290–300. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12256.
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., & Williams, J. (2004). Confidence limits for the indirect effect: Distribution of the product and resampling methods. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39(1), 99–128. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr3901_4.
Majercakova Albertova, S., & Bolekova, V. (2022). Relationships between life satisfaction, happiness and meaning in life in pregnancy during COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Happiness and Health, 2(2), 87–97. https://doi.org/10.47602/johah.v2i2.20.
Masten, A. S. (2019). Resilience from a developmental systems perspective. World Psychiatry, 18(1), 101–102. https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fwps.20591.
Nagarajan, R., Krishnamoorthy, Y., Basavarachar, V., & Dakshinamoorthy, R. (2022). Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among survivors of severe COVID-19 infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 299, 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.11.040.
Oltean, H. R., Hyland, P., Vallières, F., & David, D. O. (2017). An empirical assessment of REBT models of psychopathology and psychological health in the prediction of anxiety and depression symptoms. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 45(6), 600–615. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465817000133.
Oltean, H. R., Hyland, P., Vallières, F., & David, D. O. (2019). Rational beliefs, happiness and optimism: An empirical assessment of REBT’s model of psychological health. International Journal of Psychology, 54(4), 495–500. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12492.
Onuigbo, L. N., Onyishi, C. N., & Eseadi, C. (2020). Predictive influence of irrational beliefs on self-esteem of university students with late blindness. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 38, 472–497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-020-00347-2.
Oshio, A., Taku, K., Hirano, M., & Saeed, G. (2018). Resilience and big five personality traits: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 127, 54–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.01.048.
Ou, X., Chen, Y., Liang, Z., Wen, S., Li, S., & Chen, Y. (2021). Resilience of nurses in isolation wards during the COVID⁃ 19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study. Psychology Health & Medicine, 26(1), 98–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2020.1861312.
Özmen, S., Özkan, O., Özer, Ö., & Yanardağ, M. Z. (2021). Investigation of COVID-19 fear, well-being and life satisfaction in turkish society. Social Work in Public Health, 36(2), 164–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2021.1877589.
Padmanabhanunni, A., & Pretorius, T. (2021). The loneliness–life satisfaction relationship: The parallel and serial mediating role of hopelessness, depression and ego-resilience among young adults in South Africa during COVID-19. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 3613. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073613.
Peker, A., & Cengiz, S. (2022). Covid-19 fear, happiness and stress in adults: The mediating role of psychological resilience and coping with stress. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 26(2), 123–131. https://doi.org/10.1080/13651501.2021.1937656.
Peker, A., Cengiz, S., & Yıldız, M. N. (2021). The mediation relationship between life satisfaction and subjective vitality fear of COVID-19 and problematic internet use. Turkish Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 24(2), 199–206. https://doi.org/10.5505/kpd.2020.92259.
Pera, A. (2020). Cognitive, behavioral, and emotional disorders in populations affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2263. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02263.
Pfefferbaum, B., & North, C. S. (2020). Mental health and the Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Medicine, 383(6), 510–512. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2008017.
Pfeifer, L. S., Heyers, K., Ocklenburg, S., & Wolf, O. T. (2021). Stress research during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 131, 581–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.045.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879.
Renaud-Charest, O., Lui, L. M., Eskander, S., Ceban, F., Ho, R., Vincenzo, D., & McIntyre, J. D., R. S (2021). Onset and frequency of depression in post-COVID-19 syndrome: A systematic review. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 144, 129–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.09.054.
Shamblaw, A. L., Rumas, R. L., & Best, M. W. (2021). Coping during the COVID-19 pandemic: Relations with mental health and quality of life. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 62(1), 92–100. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000263.
Shankar, N. L., & Park, C. L. (2016). Effects of stress on students’ physical and mental health and academic success. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 4(1), 5–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2016.1130532.
Stanley, S. M., & Markman, H. J. (2020). Helping couples in the shadow of COVID-19. Family Process, 59(3), 937–955. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12575.
Tecuta, L., Tomba, E., Lupetti, A., & DiGiuseppe, R. (2019). Irrational beliefs, cognitive distortions, and depressive symptomatology in a college-age sample: A mediational analysis. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 33(2), 116–127. https://doi.org/10.1891/0889-8391.33.2.116.
Torales, J., O’Higgins, M., Castaldelli-Maia, J. M., & Ventriglio, A. (2020). The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(4), 317–320. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020915212.
Turner, M. J. (2016). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), irrational and rational beliefs, and the mental health of athletes. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1423. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01423.
Udwin, O., Boyle, S., Yule, W., Bolton, D., & O’Ryan, D. (2000). Risk factors for long-term psychological effects of a disaster experienced in adolescence: Predictors of post traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41(8), 969–979. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00685.
Ueda, M., Nordström, R., & Matsubayashi, T. (2022). Suicide and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Journal of Public Health, 44(3), 541–548. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdab113.
Wang, Y. C., Guerola, M. M., Lin, Y. C., Hsieh, Y. P., Strong, C., Tsai, M. C., & Lin, C. Y. (2019). Effects of childhood adversity and resilience on taiwanese youth health behaviors. Pediatrics & Neonatology, 60(4), 368–376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedneo.2018.08.004.
Wang, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., Ho, C. S., & Ho, R. C. (2020a). Immediate psychological responses and associated factors during the initial stage of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic among the general population in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1729. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051729.
Wang, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., McIntyre, R. S., Choo, F. N., Tran, B., Ho, R., & Sharma, V. K. (2020b). A longitudinal study on the mental health of general population during the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 87, 40–48. i>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020b.04.028
Wang, M., Zhao, Q., Hu, C., Wang, Y., Cao, J., Huang, S., Li, J., Huang, Y., Liang, Q., Guo, Z., Wang, L., Ma, L., Zhang, S., Wang, H., Zhu, C., Luo, W., Guo, C., Chen, C., Chen, Y., Xu, K., & Yang, Y. (2021). Prevalence of psychological disorders in the COVID-19 epidemic in China: A real world cross-sectional study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 281, 312–320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.11.118.
Woldemariam, S. A. (2020). Positive interpretation as a tool in psychotherapy. In E. Messias, H. Peseschkian, & C. Cagande (Eds.), Positive psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychology. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33264-8_34.
World Health Organization (2023a). WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/.
World Health Organization (2023b). WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://www.who.int/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants.
Wu, D., Jiang, C., He, C., Li, C., Yang, L., & Yue, Y. (2020). Stressors of nurses in psychiatric hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Psychiatry Research, 288, 112956. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.psychres.2020.112956.
Yildirim, M., & Solmaz, F. (2021). Testing a turkish adaption of the brief psychological adjustment scale and assessing the relation to mental health. Studies in Psychology, 41(1), 231–245. https://doi.org/10.26650/SP2020-0032.
Zhang, N. (2022). Risk perception, mental health distress, and flourishing during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: The role of positive and negative affect. Current Psychology, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02624-4.
Zhang, W. R., Wang, K., Yin, L., Zhao, W. F., Xue, Q., Peng, M., Min, B. Q., Tian, Q., Leng, H. X., & Du, J. L. (2020). Mental health and psychosocial problems of medical healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 89(4), 242–250. https://doi.org/10.1159/000507639.
Zhu, K., Niu, Z., Freudenheim, J. L., Zhang, Z. F., Lei, L., Homish, G. G., & Mu, L. (2021). COVID-19 related symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD among US adults. Psychiatry Research, 301, 113959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113959.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed Consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Kaşıkcı, F., Arslan, G. & Avşaroğlu, S. Ego Resilience and College Student Psychological Well-Being After the Apex of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Effect of Irrational and Rational Beliefs. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-023-00519-w
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-023-00519-w