Differences in psychological distress, resilience and cognitive emotional regulation strategies in adults during the Coronavirus pandemic: A cross-cultural study of Poland and Spain

Abstract

Background. The objective of this cross-cultural study was to ana-lyze the differences in resilience, cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS), as well as psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic between Poland and Spain. Method. An online survey was conducted on a sample of 1,182 adults. A MANOVA analysis was carried out to examine the differences in the studied variables between these countries. This was followed by MANCOVA analysis to control for gender and age. Linear re-gression analyses segmented by country were conducted in order to identi-fy psychological distress prediction models. Results. Polish population was characterized by higher levels of anxiety, less resilience and more maladap-tive CERS during the lockdown. Spanish population was more affected by stress but used more adaptable CERS and was more resilient. Age and fe-male gender appeared as risk factors of psychological distress in Spain. The psychological distress prediction models were found to be different between both countries: adaptive CERS was predictive only in Spain, and resilience was predictive only in Poland. Conclusions. This study could guide in initiatives for the promotion of psychological well-being as a way to pre-vent psychopathological disorders during the pandemic.