Psychological capital of petrochemical corporate employees during COVID-19 social isolation: a longitudinal analysis

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health emergency and a significant stressor to most people. The objective of this study was to examine the mental health status and social support level of participants from 2019 to 2020. The study aimed to investigate the changes in people’s psychological capital state due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal study was performed to study the psychosocial predictors of mental health among a sample of 2,999 Chinese employees in 2019, and the follow-up survey was conducted one year later. Regression coefficients were visualized in a heatmap. Path analysis was performed base on the structural equation model (SEM) to measure the associations between study variables. The status of mental health, resilience, and optimism changed significantly during the pandemic (P < 0.05). The level of employee’s social support in 2019 could significantly and positively predicted the level of employee’s psychological capital in 2020, and the level of employee mental health in 2019 significantly and negatively predicted the level of employee psychological capital in 2020. The mental health of employees played an intermediary role between social support and psychological capital. These results highlight that the COVID-19 pandemic has a strong impact on the psychological capital of company employees. While demanding performance, corporations should ensure timely intervention in the mental health of their employees.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• Psychological capital
• Social support
• COVID-19
• Longitudinal analysis

Disclosure statement

This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving human participants were approved by Jilin University ethics committee. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Before the investigation, this study was approved by the relevant leaders of corporations in Jilin Province, orally agreed by the respondents, and approved by the research ethics committee of Jilin University (20190330).

Research ethics

Ethics approval was not required for this study.

Statement of contributors ship

All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.