A Longitudinal Study on the Emotional Impact Cause by the COVID-19 Pandemic Quarantine on General Population

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Lorena Canet-Juric¹  María Laura Andrés¹  Macarena del Valle¹  Hernán López-Morales¹  Fernando Poó¹  Juan Ignacio Galli¹  Matías Yerro¹  Sebastián Urquijo¹ 

[1] Institute of Basic and Applied Psychology and Technology (IPSIBAT), National University of Mar del Plata (UNMDP);National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)

关键词: coronavirus;    COVID-19;    emotion;    mental health;    anxiety;    depression;    longitudinal;    quarantine;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.565688

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

COVID-19 pandemic represents, not only a public physical health emergency, but a mental health serious problem as well. However, little is known about the psychological impact of the quarantine during this pandemic. The aim of this study is to assess the emotional impact of the lockdown measures imposed by the Argentinian government to fight the virus. For this, a survey was distributed on social network. We surveyed the Argentinian general population twice: 2 days after the mandatory quarantine started (time 1), and 2 weeks later (time 2). Anxiety levels were assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory-II; and affect was assessed using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale. A total of 6057 people answered both surveys. In addition, different socio-demographic factors were considered, such as risk factors for COVID-19, age, gender, educational level, variation in family income due to quarantine, number of children, whether they have older adults in charge or not and the number of hours viewing information about COVID-19. Statistically significant variations were observed between the two time points. The effect size, however, was very small. Depression tends to increase slightly, while levels of anxiety and affect (positive and negative) tend to decrease. Also, some slight differences related to the socio-demographic factors were found. Findings suggests that sustaining the lockdown measures could have a larger effect on mental health in the long term. It is necessary to continue monitoring emotional distress and other related mental health problems on the general population. It is also necessary to create programs aimed at promoting mental health, and to distribute information about it.

【 授权许可】

CC BY