A daily diary study into the effects on mental health of COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviors.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Recommendations for promoting mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic include maintaining social contact, through virtual rather than physical contact, moderating substance/alcohol use, and limiting news and media exposure. We seek to understand if these pandemic-related behaviors impact subsequent mental health.

Methods

Daily online survey data were collected on adults during May/June 2020. Measures were of daily physical and virtual (online) contact with others; substance and media use; and indices of psychological striving, struggling and COVID-related worry. Using random-intercept cross-lagged panel analysis, dynamic within-person cross-lagged effects were separated from more static individual differences.

Results

In total, 1148 participants complete

SUBMITTER: Shaw P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8326671 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature