Mediating role of family function between coping strategies and emotional behavior in children with chronic superficial gastritis

Abstract

BackgroundChronic superficial gastritis （CSG） is a common clinical disease in children. The emotional behavior of CSG children is susceptible due to them suffering from such disease at young age.ObjectiveTo explore the impact of coping strategies on emotional behavior and the effect of family function in children with CSG， and to provide references for clinical intervention in CSG children with emotional behavior problems.MethodsA total of 177 children with CSG admitted to Anhui Children's Hospital from June 2019 to January 2023 were selected as the research subjects. Investigation on family function， emotional and behavioral problems and coping strategies of children was conducted by employing the Family APGAR index （APGAR）， the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire （SDQ） and Coping Strategies Questionnaire （CSQ）. The structural equation model was used to test the mediating effect of family function between coping strategies and emotional behaviors.ResultsThe APGAR score was negatively correlated with both SDQ score and negative coping strategies score （r=-0.507， -0.551， P<0.01）， but was positively correlated with positive coping strategy score （r=0.579， P<0.01）. The positive coping strategy score was negatively correlated with SDQ score （r=-0.539， P<0.01）， while the negative coping strategy score was positively correlated with SDQ score （r=0.543， P<0.01）. The result showed that family function played a partial mediating role between positive coping strategies and emotional behavior ［indirect effect was -0.133 （95% CI： -0.256~-0.079， P<0.01）， accounting for 29.40% of the total effect］. The same mediating effect happened between negative coping strategies and emotional behavior ［indirect effect was 0.093 （95% CI： 0.198~0.045， P<0.01）， accounting for 28.50% of the total effect］.ConclusionCoping strategies of CSG children can affect emotional behavior directly and indirectly with family function playing a partial intermediary effect.

Keywords

• chronic superficial gastritis
• family function
• emotional behavior
• coping strategies
• mediation effect