Factors Associated with Symptoms of Depression and Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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School of Social Work, College of Health and Human Services, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA
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Department of Social Work, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
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Department of Health Behavior, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
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Center for AIDS Research, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
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Integrative Center for Aging Research, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
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Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
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Social Welfare Program, School of Public Administration, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian 102488, China
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Institute of Quantitative & Technological Economies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 102488, China
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Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Carol North
Behav. Sci. 2021, 11(2), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11020013
Received: 18 December 2020
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Revised: 17 January 2021
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Accepted: 19 January 2021
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Published: 21 January 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Disasters, Diagnosis, and Distress: Multiple Perspectives, Populations, and Methodologies)
The objective of this study was to examine factors associated with symptoms of depression and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Convenience sampling and snowball sampling were used to recruit a sample of adults in China (n = 2130) from 14 February 2020 to 3 March 2020 to complete an online survey. Linear regression was used to examine the predictors of symptoms of depression and psychological distress. Living in a non-urban area and the number of confirmed cases in their city of residence were positively associated with symptoms of depression. Female gender, not being married, practicing social distancing, the amount of time spent daily on social media searching for and reading information on COVID-19, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in their city of residence, and having confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 in personal networks were positively associated with psychological distress. Social distancing is a widely used public health approach for population-wide virus-containment of COVID-19. However, reductions in population-wide psychological well-being are inadvertent consequences of social distancing. There is an emerging need to negate factors that increase adverse mental health vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Keywords:
COVID-19; depression; psychological distress; China; social distancing; social media
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MDPI and ACS Style
Guo, Y.; Sims, O.T.; Qin, W.; Yang, F. Factors Associated with Symptoms of Depression and Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Behav. Sci. 2021, 11, 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11020013
AMA Style
Guo Y, Sims OT, Qin W, Yang F. Factors Associated with Symptoms of Depression and Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Behavioral Sciences. 2021; 11(2):13. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11020013
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuo, Yuqi, Omar T. Sims, Weidi Qin, and Fan Yang. 2021. "Factors Associated with Symptoms of Depression and Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic" Behavioral Sciences 11, no. 2: 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11020013
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