Relationships of social support, coping styles, perceived stress, and quality of life: The difference between metro drivers and station attendants in Xi'an, China

The objective of this study is to explore the relationships between social support (SS), positive and negative coping styles (PCS and NCS), perceived stress (PS), and the quality of life (QoL) among metro staff, then compare these relationships in the metro drivers and station attendants. This is a cross-sectional design study. A self-reported questionnaire was utilized to collect data from 419 metro drivers and 387 station attendants, all of whom are men and work for Xi'an Underground Railway Co., LTD. Descriptive statistics, correlations analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, mediation test, and multigroup analysis were conducted in this study. The results showed that: (1) SS, PCS, NCS, and QoL were significantly correlated with each other; (2) PS played a mediating role between SS and QoL, between PCS and QoL, and between NCS and QoL; (3) it varied significantly between metro drivers and station attendants in the magnitude of the PCS - PS and PS - QoL relation, the direct and indirect effects of SS on QoL, as well as the indirect effect of PCS on QoL, while no differences were found on other links. These findings suggested that SS, together with PCS and NCS influence PS, which in turn affects QoL. There are some differences between metro drivers and station attendants in the revealed underlying mechanisms of the QoL. Practical implications for promoting the QoL of metro staff are discussed.

Automated summary

The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between social support, positive and negative coping styles, perceived stress, and the quality of life among metro staff, and to compare these relationships between metro drivers and station attendants. The findings showed significant correlations between social support, coping styles, perceived stress, and quality of life. Perceived stress played a mediating role in these relationships. There were differences between metro drivers and station attendants in some of the relationships and underlying mechanisms of quality of life.