Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37380882›Full record

SynthesisChild psychiatry and human development2025

Problem Solving and Emotion Coping Styles for Social Anxiety: A Meta-analysis of Chinese Mainland Students.

Zehua Dong, Ming Ming Chiu, Shuqi Zhou, Zihong Zhang

Abstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Child psychiatry and human development, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Zehua DongJing Hengyi School of Education; Chinese Education Modernization Research Institute of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
Ming Ming ChiuSpecial Education and Counseling, Analytics\Assessment Research Centre, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Shuqi ZhouCollege of Foreign Languages, Donghua University, Shanghai, China. shuqizhou11@gmail.com.
Zihong ZhangInstitute of Curriculum and Instruction, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.

Funding

Zhejiang Research Institute of Education Science GH2023268
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Studies of how positive and negative coping styles affect social anxiety show mixed results. Hence, our two meta-analyses determined the overall effect sizes of problem solving-focused coping (PSC) styles and emotion-focused coping (EFC) styles on social anxiety in mainland China (PSC: k = 49 studies, N = 34,669; EFC: k = 52, N = 36,531). PSC was negatively linked to social anxiety (- .198), and EFC was positively linked to social anxiety (.223). In years with more national income, PSC's and EFC's effect sizes were larger. PSC's effect sizes were smaller among rural students (vs. urban students), larger among older students (university, high school, middle school), and larger in cross-sectional (vs. longitudinal) studies. When using SAD (vs. others) social anxiety measures, PSC effect sizes were larger, but EFC effect sizes were smaller. EFC effect sizes were larger in studies with convenience (vs. representative) samples. Gender, single child status, and coping style measurement showed no moderation effects. These findings suggest that using problem solving-focused coping styles rather than emotion-focused may reduce social anxiety, so future experimental studies can test this idea more rigorously.

Indexed as

Adaptation, PsychologicalAnxietyEmotionsPhobia, SocialProblem SolvingStudentsAdolescentChinaEast Asian PeopleFemaleHumansMaleEmotion coping styleMainland ChinaMeta-analysisProblem solving coping styleSocial anxietyStudents

Identifiers

PMID37380882

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.