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Cited by 173COVID-19 and Mental HealthEmployment and Welfare StudiesMental Health Treatment and Access

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 44 of the 48 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Predictors of mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic in the US: Role of economic concerns, health worries and social distancing

Open access
Kämpfen, Fabrice, Kohler, Iliana V., Ciancio, Alberto, Bruine de Bruin, Wändi, Maurer, Jürgen, Kohler, Hans-Peter·2020·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0241895PMC PMC7657497

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Abstract

Despite the profound health and economic implications of Covid-19, there is only limited knowledge to date about the role of economic concerns, health worries and social distancing for mental health outcomes during the pandemic. We analyze online survey data from the nationally representative “Understanding America Study” (UAS) covering the period of March 10-31st 2020 (sample size: 6,585). Mental health is assessed by the validated PHQ-4 instrument for measuring symptoms of depression and anxiety. About 29% (CI:27.4-.30.4%) of the US adult population reported some depression/anxiety symptoms over the study period, with symptoms deteriorating over the month of March. Worsening mental health was most strongly associated with concerns about the economic consequences of the pandemic, while concerns about the potential implications of the virus for respondents’ own health and social distancing also predicted increases in symptoms of depression and anxiety during the early stages of the pandemic in the US, albeit less strongly. Our findings point towards the possibility of a major mental health crisis unfolding simultaneously with the pandemic, with economic concerns being a key driving force of this crisis. These results highlight the likely importance of economic countermeasures and social policy for mitigating the impact of Covid-19 on adult mental health in the US over and above an effective public health response.

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Fig 1 Changes in the mental health (PhQ-4) from March 10th to March 31st. Notes: Source of Data: “Understand America Study” (UAS), survey 230, collected between March 10 and March 31, 2020. Plots shows weighted means, along with 95% confidence intervals, of PhQ-4 score on the left and weighted proportions of the US population that has at least some depressive/anxiety symptoms on the right. We use post-stratification weights so that the weighted means and proportions are representative of the US population for each particular time period on the x-axis.
Fig 1 Changes in the mental health (PhQ-4) from March 10th to March 31st. Notes: Source of Data: “Understand America Study” (UAS), survey 230, collected between March 10 and March 31, 2020. Plots shows weighted means, along with 95% confidence intervals, of PhQ-4 score on the left and weighted proportions of the US population that has at least some depressive/anxiety symptoms on the right. We use post-stratification weights so that the weighted means and proportions are representative of the US population for each particular time period on the x-axis.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. PT Costa, 1999, Handbook of personality, 139
  2. JC Nunnally, 1994, Psychometric theory 3E

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Metadata

Authors
Kämpfen, F., Kohler, I. V., Ciancio, A., Bruine de Bruin, W., Maurer, J., & Kohler, H.-P.
Affiliations
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
  • University of Lausanne (CH)
Corresponding author
Kohler, Iliana V.
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2020-11-11
Volume
15
Issue
11
Pages
e0241895
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0241895
PMC
PMC7657497
OpenAlex
W3104772331
Cited by
173
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 1
FWCI
12.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (NIA P30AG12836, NICHD R24 HD044964)
  • USC’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics
  • Swedish Foundation for the Humanities and the 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
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, depression, anxiety, economic problems, health worry, social distancing, PHQ-4, Understanding America Study, economic policy, social policy, United States adults
MeSH terms
Betacoronavirus, Economic Status, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, Anxiety, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Pneumonia, Viral, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk, United States, Health Behavior, Coronavirus Infections, Pandemics

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