Effect of Chinese young children’s epidemic cognition on their coping behavior: mediating role of emotion

INTRODUCTION: Young children’s epidemic awareness and risk prevention about public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 are issues of great importance deserving research. OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of young children’s epidemic cognition on their coping behavior, and the mediating role of emotion. METHOD: An online anonymous survey was administrated on 2221 Chinese parents of young children aged three to six during the COVID-19 overwhelming period. RESULTS: (1) The epidemic cognition (M = 4.17, SD = 0.73), the coping behavior (M = 4.16, SD = 0.65), and the emotion (M = 3.99, SD = 0.81) were at a relatively high level. (2) Young children’s epidemic cognition significantly predicted their coping behavior (β = 0.71, t = 45.29, P < 0.001). The positive prediction effect of epidemic cognition on young children’s emotion was significant (β = 0.19, t = 8.56, P < 0.001), and emotion had a significant positive predictive effect on young children’s coping behavior (β = 0.20, t = 4.89, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Young children’s epidemic cognition can significantly predict their coping behavior, and emotion plays a significant mediating role in their relation. It is necessary for practitioners to optimize the contents and methods of epidemic education on young children.