Sociodemographic and Psychological Risk Factors for Anxiety and Depression: Findings from the Covid-19 Health and Adherence Research in Scotland on Mental Health (CHARIS-MH) Cross-sectional Survey

Abstract

Background Investigations about mental health report prevalence rates with fewer studies investigating psychological and social factors influencing mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic. Study aims: (1) identify sociodemographic groups of the adult population at risk of anxiety and depression and (2) determine if the following social and psychological risk factors for poor mental health moderated these direct sociodemographic effects: loneliness, social support, threat perception, illness representations. Methods Cross-sectional nationally representative telephone survey in Scotland in June 2020. If available, validated instruments were used, for example, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) to measure anxiety and depression. Simple linear regressions followed by examination of moderation effect. Results A total of 1006 participants; median age 53 years, 61.4% female, from all levels of area deprivation (i.e., 3.8% in the most deprived decile and 15.6% in the most affluent decile). Analyses show associations of anxiety and depression with sociodemographic (age, gender, deprivation), social (social support, loneliness) and psychological factors (perceived threat and illness representations). Mental health was poorer in younger adults, women and people living in the most deprived areas. Age effects were exacerbated by loneliness and illness representations, gender effects by loneliness and illness representations and deprivation effects by loneliness, social support, illness representations and perceived threat. In each case, the moderating variables amplified the detrimental effects of the sociodemographic factors. Conclusions These findings confirm the results of pre-Covid-19 pandemic studies about associations between sociodemographics and mental health. Loneliness, lack of social support and thoughts about Covid-19 exacerbated these effects and offer pointers for pre-emptive action.

Loneliness, Wellbeing, and Social Activity in Scottish Older Adults Resulting from Social Distancing during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Although a thorough recruitment strategy was adopted, this sample was the relatively highly educated, less deprived, and physically active compared to the Scottish population at large, Thus, finding that some had difficulties due to COVID-19 social distancing among this group suggests that these effects may be even worse for those in lower socioeconomic groups and/or who are less active. This finding is in line with that of a previous survey which showed that poorer wellbeing was reported among women and more deprived groups [30].…”

“…This shows some positive outcomes from this research, as older adults who increased or maintained the size and/or quality of their social networks had better social support and lower loneliness [ 17 ]. This is somewhat in line with a previous survey where the wellbeing of older adults was less influenced by loneliness than that of younger adults, perhaps underlining the greater contrast between pre-pandemic and current pandemic social contact for younger people [ 30 , 31 , 32 ]. However, a substantial proportion here still did report high levels of loneliness despite this social contact, and social support scores were slightly lower than normative values [ 46 ], underlining the importance of addressing this issue among older adults too.…”

“…Despite these pre-COVID-19 findings, research conducted in the Scotland during COVID-19 in adults (median age 53 years; [ 30 ]) has shown that older adults are doing better in terms of anxiety and depression in comparison to younger adults. This is somewhat consistent with other UK-wide studies, where the proportion of older participants experiencing mental distress is lower than that of younger participants [ 31 , 32 ].…”

Evaluation of the COVID-19 pandemic effect on the development of somatic symptoms in patients with mood disorders: a case-control study

“…Hubard et al. showed that anxiety and depression are associated with social (social support, loneliness), sociodemographic (age, gender, deprivation), and psychological factors (perceived threat and illness representations) [ 39 ].…”

The role of mental health to overcoming the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic

“…All of this is new to society, and of course causes a variety of reactions, where each individual will react in conveying his or her concerns, and people will react individually and collectively. (25,26) Several reviews reported the psychological symptoms that were found. A recent review of psychological symptoms in individuals undergoing quarantine includes stress, depression, irritability, insomnia, fear, confusion, anger, frustration, boredom and stigma associated with quarantine, and some of these psychological conditions can persist after quarantine.…”