Gendered Factors Associated with Preventive Behaviors and Mental Health among Chinese Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic Home Quarantine

Abstract

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) has greatly impacted the life and mental health of many people globally. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors associated with preventive behaviors and mental health among Chinese adults during their home quarantine in the COVID-19 period. An online questionnaire survey was administered in March 2020. The study participants were adults aged between 18 and 70 years old from 31 provinces in China. Of the 3878 participants, 1314 reported moderate levels of anxiety, and the remaining participants reported moderate to severe levels of anxiety. Findings revealed that females aged between 18 and 30 years old who had higher educational qualifications, greater levels of preventive knowledge, trust in the government, and resided in urban and medium-risk areas (R2 = 0.100, F = 27.97, p < 0.001) were more likely to exhibit preventive behaviors. In contrast, a higher negative emotional response was generally seen in males who had low levels of preventive knowledge and behaviors, higher risk perception of infection, lower trust in the government, and unhealthy lifestyles (R2 = 0.127, F = 32.33, p < 0.001). In addition, the high-risk perception of infection was positively associated with high odds of anxiety (AOR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.10–1.24), whereas a greater level of preventive knowledge (AOR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.19–0.70) and behaviors (AOR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57–0.84), higher trust in the government’s COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures (AOR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.71–0.83), and a healthier lifestyle (AOR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.79–0.99) were negatively associated with high odds of anxiety. Results showed that a lower level of anxiety and negative emotional response were associated with better preventive behaviors against COVID-19, which were influenced by preventive knowledge, risk perception, trust in the government’s COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures, and healthy lifestyle. Findings in this study could help formulate health interventions for vulnerable groups related to gendered vulnerabilities in the COVID-19 environment to improve their mental health and preventive behaviors, especially during the period of a pandemic.

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Mental Health Problems among Essential and Nonessential Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic, June 2021, in an Unstable and Developing Country: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The scale was validated and translated into Serbian and has shown that the GAD-7 questionnaire is a viable measure of generalized anxiety disorder [30]. A score of 5 or above indicates the presence of anxiety, which is graded as mild (5)(6)(7)(8)(9), moderate (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), or severe (15 and above) [15]. The PHQ-2 questionnaire is a component of the PHQ-9 questionnaire; it consists of two items that measure the degree of depression patients have felt in the last two weeks.…”

“…According to data obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic, higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress and burnout were reported [6,7] and especially in "essential" workers [8], e.g., healthcare workers [9]. In the literature there is evidence that those people working in nonessential activities, for example teachers, are prone to mental burden [10].…”

Is psychologically vulnerable rural-to-urban migrants' mental health further at stake under China's tightened COVID-19 measures: how should the government respond?

“…The crisis escalated to a public health emergency on 21st January, 2020 (Song et al, 2020). Since then, the Chinese government had employed strict public health measures, including locking down the epicenter of the outbreak, applying nationwide travel restrictions, and exercising home quarantine (Liu et al, 2021). There is a well-documented scholarly discourse on how the COVID-19 outbreak adversely affects the mental health of Chinese nationals (e.g., Li et al, 2020;Ren et al, 2020;Zhou et al, 2020).…”