Sociodemographic and psychological risk factors for anxiety and depression: Findings from the COVID-19 Health and Adherence Research in Scotland (CHARIS) cross-sectional survey

Gill Hubbard* (Corresponding Author), Chantal den Daas, Marie Johnston, Diane Dixon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)
2 Downloads (Pure)

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.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)788-800
Number of pages13
JournalInternational Journal of Behavioral Medicine
Volume28
Issue number6
Early online date3 Mar 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Chief Scientist Office (Scotland) (CSO) has funded this project. The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the CSO or the Scottish Government.

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not currently publicly available due to the research team still publishing from these data.

Keywords

  • Coronavirus
  • COVID-19
  • Public mental health
  • Loneliness
  • Social support
  • Threat perception
  • Illness representations

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