Psychological Resilience as a Protective Factor for Depression and Anxiety Among the Public During the Outbreak of COVID-19

Abstract

BackgroundPsychological resilience may reduce the impact of psychological distress to some extent. We aimed to investigate the mental health status of the public during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and explore the level and related factors of anxiety and depression.MethodsFrom February 8 to March 9, 2020, 3,180 public completed the Zung’s Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) for anxiety, Zung’s Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) for depression, the Connor–Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC) for psychological resilience, and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) for the attitudes and coping styles.ResultsThe number of people with depressive symptoms (SDS > 53) was 1,303 (the rate was 41.0%). The number of people with anxiety symptoms (SAS > 50) was 1,184 (the rate was 37.2%). The depressed group and anxiety group had less education, more unmarried and younger age, as well as had significant different in SDS total score (P < 0.001), SAS total score (P < 0.001), CD-RISC total score (P < 0.001), and SCSQ score (P < 0.001). The binary logistic regression showed that female (B = -0.261, P = 0.026), strength (B = -0.079, P = 0.000), and the subscales of active coping style in SCSQ (B = -0.983, P = 0.000) remained protective factors and passive coping style (B = 0.293, P = 0.003) and higher SAS score (B = 0.175, P = 0.000) were risk factors for depression. Optimism (B = -0.041, P = 0.015) in CD-RISC was a protective factor, and passive coping styles (B = 0.483, P = 0.000) and higher SDS score (B = 0.134, P = 0.000) were risk factors for anxiety.LimitationsThis study adopted a cross-sectional design and used self-report questionnaires.ConclusionThe mental health of the public, especially females, the younger and less educational populations, and unmarried individuals, should be given more attention. Individuals with high level of mental resilience and active coping styles would have lower levels of anxiety and depression during the outbreak of COVID-19.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Self-Reported Outcomes in Patients With Adrenal Insufficiency

“…The possible explanations for these findings could be pandemic-related increase in childcare responsibilities, lockdown measures, furlough, and loss in income, as well as possible difficulties with telemedicine access. Our findings are in line with several other studies that have reported younger patients and women were more vulnerable to the mental stress related to the pandemic ( 24 , 25 ), that easy access to telemedicine could achieve high patient’s satisfaction and meet their needs in other common endocrine conditions during the pandemic ( 26 , 27 ), and that good insurance coverage was associated with better self-perceived health in patients with AI ( 7 ).…”

Post-traumatic Growth and Related Influencing Factors in Discharged COVID-19 Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…A tendency score of less than zero, suggests that the subject tends to adopt a positive manner under pressure (Nie et al, 2017 ). This scale has been commonly used in Chinese, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic (Li, J. et al, 2020 ; Song et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Yao et al, 2021 ). In our sample, Cronbach's α was 0.90 for the SCSQ, and for two subscales, positive coping and negative coping, it was 0.89 and 0.78, respectively.…”

Resilience in the Storm: Impacts of Changed Daily Lifestyles on Mental Health in Persons with Chronic Illnesses under the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In the development of the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RIS), the authors remarked they operationalized the construct by referring to the earlier works of the following: Kobasa on hardiness which encompassed control, commitment and viewing a change as a challenge [ 18 ]; Rutter’s work which emphasized secure relationships, self-efficacy, past success, perceived choice and action orientation as protective factors against psychiatric disorders [ 19 ]; and Lyon’s work on patience and distress tolerance for adjusting to a trauma [ 20 ]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies have reported negative relationships between psychological resilience and sense of danger, and psychological distress and somatic symptoms in community samples [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Psychological resilience was also found to mediate the link between a pandemic-related stressful experience and acute stress disorder among a sample of Chinese university students [ 24 ].…”