Mental Health and Social Contact During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Abstract

For many students, the COVID-19 pandemic caused once-in-a-lifetime disruptions of daily life. In March 2020, during the beginning of the outbreak in the Netherlands, we used ecological momentary assessment to follow 80 undergraduate students four times per day for 14 days to assess mental health, social contact, and COVID-19-related variables. Despite rapidly increasing rates of infections and deaths, we observed decreases in anxiety, loneliness, and COVID-19-related concerns, especially in the first few days. Other mental health variables, such as stress levels, remained stable, whereas depressive symptoms increased. Despite social-distancing measures implemented by the Dutch government halfway through our study, students showed no changes in the frequency of in-person social activities. Dynamic network models identified potential vicious cycles between mental health variables and being alone, which predicted concerns about COVID-19 and was followed by further mental health problems. Findings and implications are discussed in detail.

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Role of Empathy during COVID-19’s First Wave

“…First, with respect to measurement, the IRI has been previously mainly applied to the study of medical personnel, which limits the reliability for use with a general population. Second, a majority of participants in the present study were female, which is consistent with other sample demographics [30,[87][88][89]. Relatedly, it is important to acknowledge that participants were asked their sex and not their gender identity, which limits the generalizability of the study's findings to individuals who may identify with anything apart from their sex assigned at birth.…”

Network analysis of multivariate data in psychological science

“…In the time-series data example used here, we leverage data gathered during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate the impact of reduced social contact due to lockdown measures on the mental health of students enrolled at Leiden University in the Netherlands. In this ecological momentary assessment study, students were followed daily for 2 weeks, assessing momentary social contact as well as current stress, anxiety and depression 4 times per day via a smartphone application 50 . In this situation, a network model can be fitted to these data to investigate to what degree social contact variables influence mental health variables over the course of hours and days.…”

“…Researchers have devised an ecological momentary assessment study following 80 students (mean age = 20.38 years, standard deviation = 3.68, range = 18-48 years; n = 60 female, n = 19 male, n = 1 other) from Leiden University for 2 weeks in their daily lives 50 . With 19 different nationalities represented, this sample is highly international.…”

Exposure to COVID-19 during the First and the Second Wave of the Pandemic and Coronavirus-Related PTSD Risk among University Students from Six Countries—A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study

“…The additional risk factor of mental health problems is a young age. Even though young adults are less susceptible to COVID-19 infection [ 13 ], they are more susceptible to mental health issues during the ongoing pandemic [ 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”