Mediating Role of Coping Styles in Self-management Behaviors of School-aged Children with Asthma: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: The self-management behaviors of children with asthma are influenced by multiple factors, but the underlying psychological mechanism remains unclear. Coping styles, as the core strategies for children to deal with the stress of illness, may play a key role between disease factors and behavioral outcomes.

Objective: To explore the mediating role of coping styles among the severity of asthma, asthma knowledge, and self-management behaviors.

Method: A cross-sectional study design was adopted, and 253 children aged 8-12 with asthma in Wenzhou area were included. Data were collected using questionnaires. The Hayes Process macro (Model 4) was used to test the mediating effect, and Bootstrap repeated sampling was conducted 5,000 times to calculate the 95% confidence interval.

Results: Coping styles play a partial mediating role between the severity of asthma and self-management behaviors (indirect effect accounts for 58.9%, 95% CI [-1.46, -0.75]), and play a complete mediating role between asthma knowledge and self-management behaviors (indirect effect accounts for 75.4%, 95% CI [0.78, 1.38]). For every additional 1 point in the score of positive coping, the total score of self-management behavior increased by 1.76-1.85 points (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Coping style is the key psychological mechanism that connects disease cognition with management behavior. Clinical intervention should incorporate coping skills training into asthma education programs. By cultivating positive coping strategies such as problem-solving and emotion regulation, the self-management ability of children patients can be enhanced.