IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v22y2025i4p614-d1634962.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Meaning-Focused Coping in University Students in Hong Kong During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

Author

Listed:
  • Tingyin Wong

    (Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China)

  • Daniel T. L. Shek

    (Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China)

Abstract

Many studies were conducted during and after the COVID-19 pandemic to examine its impact on young people’s well-being. However, most studies are quantitative ones focusing on the negative impact of the pandemic on young people. In contrast, there are few studies examining the benefits of the pandemic using a qualitative methodology. Hence, we conducted focus group interviews to understand meaning-focused coping in 56 university students from late December 2022 to mid-January 2023 when Hong Kong was approaching the end of the pandemic. Thematic analysis using a deductive analytical approach based on the Revised Stress and Coping Model was applied during data analysis. The results showed that most students were able to generate positive experiences and emotions during the pandemic. Many of them reported improved mental well-being during the pandemic by infusing ordinary events with meaning. They engaged in adaptive goal processes by having a more positive attitude towards life. Students also found benefits in terms of enhanced personal strengths, better interpersonal relationships, and improved pandemic-related abilities. Furthermore, the current study compared the difference in the use of meaning-focused coping and perceived benefits by students with family or personal financial difficulties, students who coped well, and Mainland Chinese students studying in Hong Kong. This paper provides an alternative picture of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students.

Suggested Citation

  • Tingyin Wong & Daniel T. L. Shek, 2025. "Meaning-Focused Coping in University Students in Hong Kong During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(4), pages 1-30, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:4:p:614-:d:1634962
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/4/614/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/4/614/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giulia Landi & Kenneth I. Pakenham & Roberto Cattivelli & Silvana Grandi & Eliana Tossani, 2022. "Caregiving Responsibilities and Mental Health Outcomes in Young Adult Carers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Wenyu Chai & Daniel T. L. Shek, 2024. "Mental Health of Hong Kong University Students Under COVID-19: Protective Ecological Factors and Underlying Mechanism," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 921-943, June.
    3. Richard F. Catalano & M. Lisa Berglund & Jean A. M. Ryan & Heather S. Lonczak & J. David Hawkins, 2004. "Positive Youth Development in the United States: Research Findings on Evaluations of Positive Youth Development Programs," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 98-124, January.
    4. David J. Javier-Aliaga & Gluder Quispe & Dámaris Quinteros-Zuñiga & Cristian E. Adriano-Rengifo & Michael White, 2022. "Hope and Resilience Related to Fear of COVID-19 in Young People," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-10, April.
    5. Folkman, Susan, 1997. "Positive psychological states and coping with severe stress," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1207-1221, October.
    6. Agnes Y. K. Lai & George O. C. Cheung & Asa C. M. Choi & Man-Ping Wang & Polly S. L. Chan & Angie H. Y. Lam & Esther W. S. Lo & Chia-Chin Lin & Tai-Hing Lam, 2022. "Mental Health, Support System, and Perceived Usefulness of Support in University Students in Hong Kong Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Method Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, October.
    7. Yali Wang & Xiang Jing & Wantong Han & Yurong Jing & Lingzhong Xu, 2020. "Positive and negative affect of university and college students during COVID-19 outbreak: a network-based survey," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(8), pages 1437-1443, November.
    8. Zhonggen Yu, 2022. "Sustaining Student Roles, Digital Literacy, Learning Achievements, and Motivation in Online Learning Environments during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, April.
    9. Suzanne van de Groep & Kiki Zanolie & Kayla H Green & Sophie W Sweijen & Eveline A Crone, 2020. "A daily diary study on adolescents’ mood, empathy, and prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wenyu Chai & Daniel T. L. Shek, 2024. "Mental Health of Hong Kong University Students Under COVID-19: Protective Ecological Factors and Underlying Mechanism," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 921-943, June.
    2. Sjoerd Halem & Eeske Roekel & Jaap Denissen, 2024. "Understanding the Dynamics of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives on Daily Well-Being: Insights from Experience Sampling Data," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 1-25, October.
    3. Dorota Ortenburger & Dariusz Mosler & Józef Langfort & Jacek Wąsik, 2022. "Feeling of Meaningfulness and Anxiety of Taekwon-Do Fighters in a Salutogenic Notion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-8, November.
    4. Eleni Andreou & Evangelos C. Alexopoulos & Christos Lionis & Liza Varvogli & Charalambos Gnardellis & George P. Chrousos & Christina Darviri, 2011. "Perceived Stress Scale: Reliability and Validity Study in Greece," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-12, August.
    5. Jennifer Hanratty & Sarah Miller & Leonor Rodriguez & Paul Connolly & Jennifer Roberts & Seaneen Sloan & Aoibheann Brennan‐Wilson & Daragh Bradshaw & Christopher Coughlan & Nicole Gleghorne & Laura Du, 2023. "UPDATED PROTOCOL: Universal school‐based programmes for improving social and emotional outcomes in children aged 3–11 years: An evidence and gap map," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), September.
    6. repec:plo:pone00:0078904 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Yanling Geng & Longtao He, 2022. "Gender Differences in Children’s Psychological Well-Being in Mainland China: Risk and Protective Factors," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2743-2763, October.
    8. Blanco, Esther & Baier, Alexandra & Holzmeister, Felix & Jaber-Lopez, Tarek & Struwe, Natalie, 2022. "Substitution of social sustainability concerns under the Covid-19 pandemic," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    9. Maria Rita Sergi & Laura Picconi & Alessandra Fermani & Ramona Bongelli & Sara Lezzi & Aristide Saggino & Marco Tommasi, 2023. "The Mediating Role of Positive and Negative Affect in the Relationship between Death Anxiety and Italian Students’ Perceptions of Distance Learning Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, July.
    10. Lu Yu & Mingyue Gu & Ko Ling Chan, 2023. "Hong Kong Adolescents’ Participation in Political Activities: Correlates of Violent Political Participation," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 1365-1405, June.
    11. Kalaikumar Arujunan & Ismi Arif Ismail & Shamsuddin Othman & Mohd Mursyid Arshad, 2021. "Job Motivation as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Job Stress And Job Performance of Police Officers at the Federal Territory Police Headquarters," International Journal of Human Resource Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 11(4S), pages 145156-1451, December.
    12. Shinae L. Choi & Casey J. Totenhagen & Theodore S. Tomeny & Rebecca S. Allen, 2025. "Navigating Financial Storms: Does Dyadic Coping Buffer the Association Between Daily Financial Stress and Emotional Well-Being?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 54-66, March.
    13. Mäntymäki, Matti & Najmul Islam, A.K.M. & Turel, Ofir & Dhir, Amandeep, 2022. "Coping with pandemics using social network sites: A psychological detachment perspective to COVID-19 stressors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    14. Marcin Rzeszutek & Ewa Gruszczyńska, 2022. "Trajectories of Posttraumatic Growth Following HIV Infection: Does One PTG Pattern Exist?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1653-1668, April.
    15. Shadi Dehghanzadeh & Nahid Dehghan Nayeri & Shokoh Varaei & Jalal Kheirkhah, 2017. "Living with cardiac resynchronization therapy: Challenges for people with heart failure," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 112-118, March.
    16. Montserrat Edo‐Gual & Joaquín Tomás‐Sábado & Dolores Bardallo‐Porras & Cristina Monforte‐Royo, 2014. "The impact of death and dying on nursing students: an explanatory model," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(23-24), pages 3501-3512, December.
    17. Fekadu Aga & Merja Nikkonen & Jari Kylmä, 2014. "Caregiving actions: Outgrowths of the family caregiver's conceptions of care," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 149-156, June.
    18. Khayal, Inas S. & Barnato, Amber E., 2022. "What is in the palliative care ‘syringe’? A systems perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    19. Kisiel, Cassandra & Guarnaccia, Uma & Pinkerton, Linzy & Garibaldi, Patricia & Agosti, Jen, 2024. "Empowering transition age youth through trauma-informed, strengths-based, youth-centered, and anti-racist practices: Implementation of a virtual breakthrough series collaborative," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    20. Suguru Iwano & Kohei Kambara & Shuntaro Aoki, 2022. "Psychological Interventions for Well-Being in Healthy Older Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 2389-2403, June.
    21. Xinjie Deng & Zhonggen Yu, 2022. "A Systematic Review of Machine-Translation-Assisted Language Learning for Sustainable Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:4:p:614-:d:1634962. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.