Rather than viewing lower reported distress solely through a deficit lens, such as underreporting https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2020-04-29/parenting-teens-coronavirus or limited coping resources, it is equally important to consider the cultural strengths, community resilience, and adaptive strategies that have long supported emotional well-being in these populations. In this study, non-white respondents reported lower overall in all types of coping behaviors, including both adaptive (e.g., social connection, relaxation) and maladaptive (e.g., substance use) strategies, compared to White respondents. Sociodemographic characteristics accounted for a substantial portion of the between-person variance in coping behaviors and their associations with mental distress, echoing broader evidence that structural factors, like economic and educational disparities, shape the ability to adopt and maintain healthy coping strategies . The finding that between-person effects surpass within-person effects suggests that ingrained, long-term coping habits have a notable impact on mental health. This aligns with theoretical frameworks such as compensatory internet use theory and empirical research 8, 25, which highlighted that social media may have more ambivalent or even adverse mental health consequences compared to in-person or direct social contact.
What is COVID-19?
- Mental health improvement after the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with psychological distress.
- The data are not publicly available because participants did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly.
- A 2022 study assessed the levels of mental wellbeing and potential for clinical need in a sample of UK university students aged 18–25 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Some people may use unhealthy ways to cope with anxiety around COVID-19.
- We analysed the reasons for calling using data on the 12 helplines for which we have call-level information on conversation topics and caller characteristics.
An uncontrolled epidemic, prolonged stringent interventions such as lockdowns, and economic recession could all profoundly affect population mental health. Upstream approaches targeting the population determinants of health could address inequities by preserving the economy, reducing job loss, and implementing social policies to prevent substance use and domestic violence 125,126,127. While all age groups have experienced poorer mental health during COVID-19 , the young can be disproportionately affected by countermeasures 55, 115.
Peer Review File
Urbanization, digital dependency, and social isolation have profoundly impacted mental health, contributing to the rising prevalence of mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and loneliness in modern society. Studies have shown a dramatic rise in anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during and after the pandemic, highlighting the need for enhanced mental health care and intervention strategies . One study reported a prevalence rate of symptoms of psychological distress at 38% (Moccia et al., 2020), while another study from Qiu et al. (2020) reported a prevalence of 34.43%. Several mental health experts pointed out the importance of governments in lending social and economic support to individuals,119,151 increasing mental health services,53 and supporting victims of domestic violence.25 During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have developed many different economic interventions in order to ameliorate its impact on health.185 More studies should be done to understand the exact impact of these initiatives in public health. For example, several studies have pointed out an increase of PTSD symptoms following the use of benzodiazepines for acute stress.165,166 Thus, experts suggest that clinicians avoid using benzodiazepines to treat mild symptoms (e.g., mild anxiety, insomnia) of acute stress and adjustment disorders,167 but more studies should be done to investigate these controversies.
A five-part questionnaire conducted among healthcare workers in Ghana to examine the correlation between COVID-19 and mental health. Low-wage and part-time workers were those most likely to be unemployed and people of color (especially women) had disproportionate job losses compared to the general population. The contributing factors to this disparity are the limited public testing available, an increase in low-wage worker unemployment, lack of healthcare, medical racism/biases, and a higher rate of pre-existing conditions.
Clinician Wellbeing and Mental Health Assessment Across Two Acute Care Hospitals During the COVID-19 Pandemic
“The crowded meeting rooms and lecture halls that regularly gave me panic attacks and anxiety were no longer a part of daily life. The researchers say that, even though those are relatively small rises, they are significant because of the short period of time they happened over. This publication is the most detailed examination of how the UK’s adult population coped during the first weeks of lockdown, when people were given strict orders to stay home. American Community Survey (ACS), on sex, age, education, race, Hispanic origin, and region, within race-groups, along with data from the 2010 Census on population density.
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