Self-Reported Anxiety in Spain: A Gendered Approach One Year After the Start of COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on mental health. However, there is little evidence on how different axes of social inequity influence mental health from a gender perspective and over time. Our aim is to analyze anxiety according to gender identity and other axes of social inequities (migration status, sexual orientation, age, and employment conditions) one year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. We conducted a cross-sectional study among adults living in Spain with an online survey from April 8 to May 28, 2021. The main variable was anxiety measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). Sex-stratified multivariate logistic regression models were constructed to assess the association between axes of inequities and anxiety. Our findings (N = 2,053) suggest that women have greater anxiety risk than men (35.2 vs. 28.2%, respectively). We observe in both genders that there is a clear age gradient, with anxiety decreasing as age increases; and that there is an association between worsening employment status and anxiety risk, although there is a difference between women by education level. Additionally, not having Spanish nationality is also associated with greater anxiety risk in women. In men, identifying as non-heterosexual is associated with a higher risk of anxiety. The axes of inequities have different effects according to gender identity. These differences in anxiety risk by population subgroup must be taken into account in order to sensibly and equitably treat the surge in mental health disorders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physical activity, sleep, and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A one-year longitudinal study of Spanish university students

“…A notable new finding of the current study is that although the number of students who reported higher anxiety and lower mood compared to pre-confinement had decreased slightly one year post-confinement, this number still clearly exceeded the number of students who reported the opposite. As reported in other studies of the Spanish population [ 70 , 71 ], women were more affected by anxiety than men during COVID-19 pandemic. Students with obesity were the only group with a higher proportion of participants with more anxiety and lower mood status one year post-confinement than during the confinement period.…”

Spanish residents’ experiences of care during the first wave of the COVID-19 syndemic: a photo-elicitation study

“…Another important discussion is around the profound impact of the crisis of care on women. Previous research has already indicated the lack of attention to women’s unpaid labour and the costs of fulfilling care roles (Folbre, 2006a ), as well as women’s increased vulnerability in the context of health crises, especially among the racialized or migrant populations (Azcona et al, 2020 ; Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2021 ; Doyal, 1996 ; Jacques-Aviñó et al, Harman, 2016 ; Jacques-Aviñó et al, 2020 , 2022 ; Sherman, 2020 ; Smith et al, 2021 ; Wenham et al, 2020 ). However, a generalized lack of gendered political and economic responses to the COVID-19 syndemic prevails (Smith et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In both scenarios, the importance of self-care during periods of lockdown and, overall, throughout the COVID-19 syndemic needs to be discussed. An increasing amount of evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on mental and emotional health has been published (Jacques-Aviñó et al, 2022 ; Gloster et al, 2020 ). Academics worldwide have made a call to prioritize mental health science and public health actions directed to protecting and promoting mental health and its determinants (Holmes et al, 2020 ).…”

“…It is both a political and ethical crisis (Malherbe, 2020 ) that comes with the peril of deepening intersecting oppressions towards social agents (mostly women) (Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2021 ) who are made socially and politically responsible for ensuring social reproduction to sustain the monetized spheres of our economies (European Commission, 2021 ). Studies conducted during the COVID-19 syndemic have shown that this work overload has had impacts on mental health, both in terms of work-life balance and the “mental burden” of caregiving responsibility (Fisher et al, 2020 ; Jacques-Aviñó et al, 2020 , 2022 ; Matulevicius et al, 2021 ). Thus, we cannot afford to neglect it if we want to ensure individual and collective survival.…”

Axes of social inequities in COVID-19 clinical trials: A systematic review

“…Therefore, we aimed at analyzing if COVID-19 vaccine trials accounted for axes of social inequities in the description of participant characteristics, follow-up, and results about efficacy and safety. In particular, we focused on those social and demographic factors which alters the access to health care and are involved in health inequities: age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and obesity ( 10 , 12 ). We included obesity because its social stigma promotes health barriers ( 13 ), and makes communication difficult.…”