Psychological maltreatment, coping flexibility, and death obsession during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-mediation analysis

Recent psychological studies have reported that child maltreatment is a common issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, with negative factor leading to greater risk of occurrence of mental health problems. However, the relationship between psychological maltreatment and psychological factors is complex. Understanding the factors, which may help to provide interventions, is a critical step for mental health providers. This study aims to examine the relationships between psychological maltreatment, coping flexibility, coronavirus anxiety, coronavirus stress, and death distress. We collected data from 394 Turkish young adults (76% male: average age 21.36 ± 2.57 years) during the outbreak of COVID-19. The results of multi-mediation analysis showed that psychological maltreatment was positively related to the death obsession. More importantly, this relationship could be explained through the mediated effects of coping flexibility, coronavirus anxiety, and coronavirus stress. This study highlights the non-negligible role of psychological maltreatment in affecting death obsession and the role of coping flexibility in explaining the psychological influence of maltreatment.