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Unprecedented disruption of lives and work: Health, distress and life satisfaction of working adults in China one month into the COVID-19 outbreak
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Abstract
We assess the health and wellbeing of normal adults living and working after one month of confinement to contain the COVID-19 outbreak in China. On Feb 20-21, 2020, we surveyed 369 adults in 64 cities in China that varied in their rates of confirmed coronavirus cases on their health conditions, distress and life satisfaction. 27% of the participants worked at the office, 38% resorted to working from home, and 25% stopped working due to the outbreak. Those who stopped working reported worse mental and physical health conditions as well as distress. The severity of COVID-19 in an individual's home city predicts their life satisfaction, and this relationship is contingent upon individuals' existing chronic health issues and their hours of exercise. Our evidence supports the need to pay attention to the health of people who were not infected by the virus, especially for people who stopped working during the outbreak. Our results highlight that physically active people might be more susceptible to wellbeing issues during the lockdown. Policymakers who are considering introducing restrictive measures to contain COVID-19 may benefit from understanding such health and wellbeing implications.
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“In the first studies developed in China, the effects of confinement (Brooks et al., 2020) were analysed and people who had remained active during this period showed better health and well-being outcomes, as compared to those who had not become infected or stopped working during confinement (Zhang et al., 2020).”
From Health-related factors of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic among non-health workers in Spain (2021) · cites this paper as Zhang et al., 2020
In the citing paper
“Among people in or after quarantine, some experienced emotional distress, including: annoyance,32 anxiety,25,29 boredom,23,25,32 disappointment and life dissatisfaction,24,32,35 fear of infection,23,25,30,34 isolation,23,25,32 loneliness25,32 and mistrust.31”
From Social consequences of mass quarantine during epidemics: a systematic review with implications for the COVID-19 response (2020) · cites this paper as [35]
In the citing paper
“in Zhang et al.’s35 study of the well-being of individuals during the COVID-19 lockdown, there was strong evidence that those who stopped working had poorer mental health conditions than those still employed [a decrease of 2.60 points in Mental Composite Scale; 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.05 to −5.16].”
From Social consequences of mass quarantine during epidemics: a systematic review with implications for the COVID-19 response (2020) · cites this paper as [35]
In the citing paper
“Consistent with previous studies,10,36,37 our review presents a range of negative psychological impacts of mass quarantine, such as low life satisfaction, emotional isolation and fear of infection.23–25,30,32,34,35”
From Social consequences of mass quarantine during epidemics: a systematic review with implications for the COVID-19 response (2020) · cites this paper as [35]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Zhang, S. X., Wang, Y., Rauch, A., & Wei, F.
- Affiliations
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Tongji University (CN)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Zhang, Stephen X.
- Wei, Feng
- Venue
- Psychiatry Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-06
- Volume
- 288
- Pages
- 112958
- ISSN
- 0165-1781 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7146665
- OpenAlex
- W3014135422
- Cited by
- 828
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 73 · 2023: 103 · 2022: 165 · 2021: 263 · 2020: 172
- FWCI
- 70.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychiatry Research (publishedVersion)
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- The Sydney eScholarship Repository (The University of Sydney) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Chinese National Funding of Social Sciences
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Employment and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social impacts of COVID-19
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown, mental health, life satisfaction, distress, working from home, job loss, physical activity, chronic disease, well-being, China
- MeSH terms
- Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, China, Cross-Sectional Studies, Disease Outbreaks, Employment, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Personal Satisfaction, Pneumonia, Viral, Surveys and Questionnaires, Coronavirus Infections, Pandemics
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