Mediating effect of coping style on association of social support with negative emotion among migrant workers

Objective To explore mediating effect of coping style on the correlation between social support and negative emotion among migrant workers.

Methods We conducted a survey in a enterprise in Shenzhen city of Guangdong province from July to September 2018; all the enterprise's employees (n = 777) without household registration of Shenzhen city were asked to complete Social Support Rating Scale (SRSS), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale-6 (ULS-6), and a self-designed questionnaire.

Results Of the participants, 43 (5.5%) were assessed as having moderate or serve depression and 21 (2.7%) as having moderate or serve anxiety; the mean ULS-6 score of the participants was 9.5 ± 3.6. The results of the structural equation model indicated that social support has a direct impact on both negative emotion (β = – 0.51, P < 0.001) and negative coping style (β = – 0.11, P = 0.023); while negative coping style has a direct impact on negative emotion level (β = 0.30, P < 0.001). Bootstrap analysis revealed a mediating effect of negative coping style on the correlation between social support and negative emotion among the participants.

Conclusion Perceived social support affects negative emotion through coping style among migrant workers.