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Predictors of mental health deterioration from pre- to post-COVID-19 outbreak.
- Source :
-
BJPsych open [BJPsych Open] 2022 Aug 30; Vol. 8 (5), pp. e162. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Aug 30. - Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Background: Mental health was only modestly affected in adults during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic on the group level, but interpersonal variation was large.<br />Aims: We aim to investigate potential predictors of the differences in changes in mental health.<br />Method: Data were aggregated from three Dutch ongoing prospective cohorts with similar methodology for data collection. We included participants with pre-pandemic data gathered during 2006-2016, and who completed online questionnaires at least once during lockdown in The Netherlands between 1 April and 15 May 2020. Sociodemographic, clinical (number of mental health disorders and personality factors) and COVID-19-related variables were analysed as predictors of relative changes in four mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, anxiety and worry symptoms, and loneliness), using multivariate linear regression analyses.<br />Results: We included 1517 participants with ( n = 1181) and without ( n = 336) mental health disorders. Mean age was 56.1 years (s.d. 13.2), and 64.3% were women. Higher neuroticism predicted increases in all four mental health outcomes, especially for worry ( β = 0.172, P = 0.003). Living alone and female gender predicted increases in depressive symptoms and loneliness ( β = 0.05-0.08), whereas quarantine and strict adherence with COVID-19 restrictions predicted increases in anxiety and worry symptoms ( β = 0.07-0.11).Teleworking predicted a decrease in anxiety symptoms ( β = -0.07) and higher age predicted a decrease in anxiety ( β = -0.08) and worry symptoms ( β = -0.10).<br />Conclusions: Our study showed neuroticism as a robust predictor of adverse changes in mental health, and identified additional sociodemographic and COVID-19-related predictors that explain longitudinal variability in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2056-4724
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- BJPsych open
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36039783
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.555