Psychological Distress Among Lebanese Women During the COVID-19 Confinement: Any Mediating Effect of Violence?

Abstract

Background: Violence among women is associated with poor psychological health and increased internalizing symptoms, such as depression, stress, and anxiety. The primary objective was to evaluate the association of marital conflict, pregnancy status, socioeconomic status, and stressful life events with violence, depression, anxiety, and stress. The secondary objective was to evaluate the mediating effect of violence on psychological distress.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 369 women between June 8 and August 1, 2020. The questionnaire was developed on Google Forms and distributed online, using the snowball technique. Results: Higher marital conflict (Beta=0.159), financial difficulties (Beta=2.572), a history of child abuse (Beta=2.546), and higher violence scores (Beta=0.121) were significantly associated with higher depression scores. Higher marital conflict (Beta=0.358) and having financial difficulties (Beta=3.859) were significantly associated with higher anxiety scores. Higher marital conflict (Beta=0.070) and financial difficulties (Beta=1.483) were significantly associated with higher perceived stress scores. Composite abuse scale partially mediated the association between pregnancy status (25.28%), financial difficulties (7.71%), history of child abuse (21.92%), abuse by a family member (50.50%), and anxiety scale. Also, the composite abuse scale partially mediated the association between marital conflict (21.42%), financial difficulties (14.17%), history of child abuse (20.05%), abuse by a family member (33.57%), and depression scale. Conclusion: Our main findings suggest that violence mediated the association between pregnancy status, marital conflicts, financial difficulties, and depression and anxiety but did not mediate between these factors and stress. Further studies are needed to understand better the factors that mediate the relations between domestic violence and mental well-being among Lebanese women.