TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health
T2 - An international study
AU - Gloster, Andrew T.
AU - Lamnisos, Demetris
AU - Lubenko, Jelena
AU - Presti, Giovambattista
AU - Squatrito, Valeria
AU - Constantinou, Marios
AU - Nicolaou, Christiana
AU - Papacostas, Savvas
AU - Aydın, Gökçen
AU - Chong, Yuen Yu
AU - Chien, Wai Tong
AU - Cheng, Ho Yu
AU - Ruiz, Francisco J.
AU - Garcia-Martin, Maria B.
AU - Obando-Posada, Diana P.
AU - Segura-Vargas, Miguel A.
AU - Vasiliou, Vasilis S.
AU - McHugh, Louise
AU - Höfer, Stefan
AU - Baban, Adriana
AU - Neto, David Dias
AU - da Silva, Ana Nunes
AU - Monestès, Jean Louis
AU - Alvarez-Galvez, Javier
AU - Paez-Blarrina, Marisa
AU - Montesinos, Francisco
AU - Valdivia-Salas, Sonsoles
AU - Ori, Dorottya
AU - Kleszcz, Bartosz
AU - Lappalainen, Raimo
AU - Ivanović, Iva
AU - Gosar, David
AU - Dionne, Frederick
AU - Merwin, Rhonda M.
AU - Kassianos, Angelos P.
AU - Karekla, Maria
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation awarded to Andrew T. Gloster (PP00P1_ 163716/1 & PP00P1_190082). The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors [ATG], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ?author contributions? section. One of the authors is employed by a commercial affiliation: Private Pratice, Poland. This affiliation provided support in the form of salaries for authors [BK], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Gloster et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Background The COVID-19 pandemic triggered vast governmental lockdowns. The impact of these lockdowns on mental health is inadequately understood. On the one hand such drastic changes in daily routines could be detrimental to mental health. On the other hand, it might not be experienced negatively, especially because the entire population was affected. Methods The aim of this study was to determine mental health outcomes during pandemic induced lockdowns and to examine known predictors of mental health outcomes. We therefore surveyed n = 9,565 people from 78 countries and 18 languages. Outcomes assessed were stress, depression, affect, and wellbeing. Predictors included country, sociodemographic factors, lockdown characteristics, social factors, and psychological factors. Results Results indicated that on average about 10% of the sample was languishing from low levels of mental health and about 50% had only moderate mental health. Importantly, three consistent predictors of mental health emerged: social support, education level, and psychologically flexible (vs. rigid) responding. Poorer outcomes were most strongly predicted by a worsening of finances and not having access to basic supplies. Conclusions These results suggest that on whole, respondents were moderately mentally healthy at the time of a population-wide lockdown. The highest level of mental health difficulties were found in approximately 10% of the population. Findings suggest that public health initiatives should target people without social support and those whose finances worsen as a result of the lockdown. Interventions that promote psychological flexibility may mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
AB - Background The COVID-19 pandemic triggered vast governmental lockdowns. The impact of these lockdowns on mental health is inadequately understood. On the one hand such drastic changes in daily routines could be detrimental to mental health. On the other hand, it might not be experienced negatively, especially because the entire population was affected. Methods The aim of this study was to determine mental health outcomes during pandemic induced lockdowns and to examine known predictors of mental health outcomes. We therefore surveyed n = 9,565 people from 78 countries and 18 languages. Outcomes assessed were stress, depression, affect, and wellbeing. Predictors included country, sociodemographic factors, lockdown characteristics, social factors, and psychological factors. Results Results indicated that on average about 10% of the sample was languishing from low levels of mental health and about 50% had only moderate mental health. Importantly, three consistent predictors of mental health emerged: social support, education level, and psychologically flexible (vs. rigid) responding. Poorer outcomes were most strongly predicted by a worsening of finances and not having access to basic supplies. Conclusions These results suggest that on whole, respondents were moderately mentally healthy at the time of a population-wide lockdown. The highest level of mental health difficulties were found in approximately 10% of the population. Findings suggest that public health initiatives should target people without social support and those whose finances worsen as a result of the lockdown. Interventions that promote psychological flexibility may mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099065272&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0244809
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0244809
M3 - Article
C2 - 33382859
AN - SCOPUS:85099065272
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 12 December
M1 - e0244809
ER -