The relationship between stress, reflective thinking, creative self-concept and hope during the COVID19 Pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 spread across the world like wildfire since the end of 2019 and caused fundamental changes to our life as we knew it. Although we now appear to be at the tail end of the pandemic, the many restrictions imposed by governments across the globe to curb the spread of the virus, including mandatory quarantine, masks, social distancing, lockdowns and homeschooling, are all too fresh in many people's minds. It is still too early to determine the long term effects of the pandemic and everything that came with it, but it was apparent that the living conditions that developed as a result of the above-mentioned restrictions led to higher levels of stress and anxiety among the general population. Moreover, as countries faced variant after variant and wave after wave of the virus, many people may have experienced feelings of hopelessness towards the future, particularly if they felt increasingly stressed by the pandemic. Past research suggests that creativity and reflective thinking may be related to stress and hope, but these relationships have not yet been studied with respect to COVID-19. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between stress, reflective thinking, creative self-concept and hope during the pandemic. Drawing from theory and past research on each of these concepts, a moderated mediation conceptual model was developed and tested with data gathered through an anonymous online survey that was completed by 392 respondents in Malta (EU). As predicted, stress was found to have a negative effect on hope, while the effects of reflective thinking and creative self-concept on hope were positive. Moreover, reflective thinking was found to mediate the relationship between stress and hope, while creative self-concept was found to moderate the relationship between stress and hope. These findings imply that reflective thinking and a creative self-concept may help offset the negative effects of COVID-related stress and foster a sense of hope for a brighter post-pandemic future.