Psychological Responses According to Gender during the Early Stage of COVID-19 in Spain

Abstract

Background: Current research has pointed out an increased risk of mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in women compared to men, however the reason for this difference remains unclear. The aim of this research is to study early psychological responses to the pandemic in the Spanish general population, focusing on gender differences. Methods: Nine to 14 days after the declaration of a state of emergency an online survey was conducted assessing sociodemographic, health, behavioral and COVID-19-related variables. Mental health status was evaluated by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Self-Care Scale (SCS). Results: The study included 3520 respondents: 2611 women and 909 men. Women scored significantly higher in DASS-21 and IES-R (p < 0.05) and were more likely to somatize, suffer from hypochondriasis, sleeping disturbances and claustrophobia (p < 0.05). Being a woman can be considered a risk factor for intrusive thoughts, avoidance mechanisms, stress and anxiety (Odd Ratio = 2.7/2.3/2.3/1.6). The risk of presenting posttraumatic symptoms and emotional distress was greater in women (Odd Ratio = 6.77/4.59). General linear models to predict IES-R and DASS-21 scores clarified which variables were gender specific, such as main concerns. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that at early stages of the pandemic, women mental health was more impacted and that both genders show different concerns. Gender perspective in secondary and tertiary prevention strategies must be taken into account when facing the distress associated with the pandemic.

Life in a time of COVID: a mixed method study of the changes in lifestyle, mental and psychosocial health during and after lockdown in Western Australians

“…This may account for some of the increased level of self-reported depression and stress seen in this study, as loneliness has been estimated to contribute up to 18% of depression in a longitudinal study [ 34 ]. It remains unclear why anxiety levels were not altered during lockdown in the present study as others have found increases in all three mental health measures using the same instrument in a web-based surveys of the Ecuadorian and Spanish populations [ 35 , 36 ]. Of note, the COVID-19 related death rate in these countries were 20–100 times greater than in Australia [ 37 ].…”

Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study

“…Anxiety can compromise the mental health of individuals and make them indulge in risky behaviors that could disproportionally affect their overall health and well-being [ 21 ]. A case in point is when patients with chronic medical conditions chose to seek emergency medical care in hospitals and others who went on to self-imposed strict quarantine and social isolation when restricted movement, physical distancing, and facemask use would have been sufficient [ 22 ].We compared the results of our study with several other reports from countries in Europe [ 23 ], the Caribbean region [ 24 ], the United States [ 25 ], China [ 26 ] and a summary report from 35 different countries [ 27 ]. In general, the levels of anxiety we found in our study were similar to levels of anxiety about Covid-19 in these selected reports.…”

Research on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of Methods and Implications in General Population Samples

“…The studies included in the review applied various scoring patterns to identify PTSD symptomatology, and when studies used similar cutoffs, the meaning was often interpreted differently. For instance, although several studies 15,16 used scores of 24, 33, and 37 to identify mild, moderate, and severe symptoms, respectively; others 17,18 used a score as low as ≥9 to identify mild, ≥26 for moderate, and ≥44 for severe PTSD symptoms. Others applied a single cutoff score of ≥24, 19 ≥33, 20,21 or ≥35 22 to identify the presence of "probable PTSD."…”