Shifts in Help-seeking Patterns During COVID-19: Should Social Distancing be Rebranded?

Abstract

Much focus has been placed on mental health symptoms brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic, yet limited discourse & evidence have evaluated how the closure of multiple venues under social distancing measures impacted people's patterns of help-seeking, which had traditionally been the very coping mechanism that buffered individuals from the consequences of those studied symptoms. Using a two-wave (June-July 2019 and June-September 2020) panel data on youths aged 11-35 years old, the present study shows that under social distancing, a significant proportion of individuals who used to rely on their strong ties for support no longer sought help even after controlling for stress level changes & sociodemographic factors, and only those who were facing heavier distress ended up seeking their strong ties for support. By simply closing off social contexts that had traditionally facilitated social support provision among strong ties and not providing people with alternative contexts, current social distancing measures appeared to have effectively increased the difficulty for many to receive social support, thereby leaving them vulnerable to mental health impacts of the pandemic. To prevent the current pandemic from turning into a mental health pandemic, the mantra "social distancing" should be revised to encourage society to remain socially close even while physically distant.