Risk of Stress/Depression and Functional Impairment in Denmark Immediately Following a COVID-19 Shutdown

Abstract

Background This study aimed to investigate the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown (March-April 2020) on risk for stress/depression and functional impairment in a representative sample of adult individuals in Denmark, and whether the impact of lockdown was heterogeneous across living situation. Methods: Using a representative, randomly drawn sample from the complete Danish adult population interviewed in March 2 to April 13, 2020 (n=2,836) and again in July 2020 (n=1,526, 54% retention rate), we study how the imposed lockdown announced March 11 following the onset of the first Danish wave of COVID-19 infections affected mental wellbeing. We use the World Health Organization Five Well-being Index (WHO-5) and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) to capture wellbeing and functioning. Using covariate adjusted ordinary least squares linear probability models and exploiting variation in the timing of responses occurring just before and just after the introduction of lockdown, we compare respondents before lockdown to respondents that answered during lockdown, as well to answers in re-interviews in July. Results: We find reduced depressive symptoms among adults immediately after the shutdown, concentrated in adults with children living at home. Measures of functional impairment also decline immediately after the March shutdown among adults with children living at home. Impairment intensified for the entire sample between March and July, but depressive symptoms remained at lower rate in July. Conclusions: Findings in Denmark indicate that living with children at home may have, in the short term, buffered the potential mental health sequelae of the COVID-19 shutdown.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental healthcare consultations among children and adolescents in Norway: a nationwide registry study

“…This could lead parents or physicians to rate children to have more symptoms now compared to in pre-pandemic years. Increased family time during the pandemic [16] could make parents more responsive to their children's symptoms. If fears of contracting COVID-19 or overburdening the healthcare system increased the threshold for seeking help, the worsening of mental health would be larger than the increase in consultations suggest.…”

“…All models control for (or are estimated separately by) sex (female = 1, male = 0) and age category (ages 6-12, 13-15, and [16][17][18][19], which corresponds to the age of enrollment in primary, secondary, and high school. We also report analyses stratified by the capital area (counties Oslo and Viken) versus all other geographic regions in Norway.…”

“…Furthermore, as mental health problems are more prevalent among children of lower socioeconomic origins, social distancing measures may exacerbate already marked social inequalities in child health [14]. In contrast, there are reports of unintended benefits of the pandemic, such as reduced bullying [15], reduced parental stress [16], and increased awareness about mental wellbeing, which could buffer against some detrimental consequences.…”

Decline in Rate of Divorce and Separation Filings in Denmark in 2020 Compared with Previous Years

“…Stay-at-home orders and suggestions following the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have caused substantial changes to everyday life for families, who quite literally are stuck at home together. Although findings on the impact of the pandemic and the measures governments have used to counter it on mental health and relationship quality are mixed (e.g., Andersen, Fallesen, and Bruckner 2020; Kowal et al 2020; Mari et al 2020), concerns have been raised on the impact of stay-at-home orders for couples in general (Luetke et al 2020; Pietromonaco and Overall forthcoming; Stanley and Markman 2020) and couples with higher levels of conflict in particular (Lebow 2020; Pieh et al 2020; Zhang forthcoming). On one hand, pandemic-induced stress and anxiety may increase levels of conflict.…”

Housing environment and mental health of Europeans during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-country comparison

“…A rapidly growing literature has investigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated societal lockdowns on populations’ mental health. Most of the findings from these studies indicated that the pandemic and associated societal lockdowns and periods of social isolation contributed to increased levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety 1 – 8 , while a few studies examining changes in mental health indicated that some mental health outcomes improved, stayed the same, or worsened only slightly, compared to pre-pandemic years 9 – 11 . Considering that a national lockdown is one of the most effective non-pharmaceutical interventions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and related deaths 12 , it is of utmost importance to understand which factors during a lockdown may lead to adverse psychological effects.…”