Family functioning and mental health among secondary vocational students during the COVID-19 epidemic: A moderated mediation model

Abstract With the global outbreak of COVID-19, people are facing great physical and mental stress, and mental health problems are becoming increasingly prominent. Some theories emphasize the role of family in people's mental health, but the association between family functioning and mental health and the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation have not been extensively researched. This study examined whether loneliness mediates the relation between family functioning and mental health and, if so, whether this mediating effect is moderated by hope. A total of 5783 Chinese secondary vocational students completed measures of family adaptability and cohesion, loneliness, mental health, and hope. The results indicated that family functioning had a significant and positive predictive effect on the mental health of the students and that this relationship was partially mediated by loneliness. Further, hope moderated the relationship between family functioning and loneliness. Specifically, the relationship between family functioning and loneliness was significant for students with both high and low levels of hope. The current study contributes to a better understanding of the influence of family functioning on mental health, especially during trying times such as the COVID-19 epidemic.