COVID-19 risk perceptions and depressive symptoms in South Africa: Causal evidence in a longitudinal and nationally representative sample.
J Affect Disord
; 308: 616-622, 2022 07 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1851376
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Studies worldwide have highlighted the acute and long-term depressive impacts of psychosocial stressors due to the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Among the wide range of risk factors for depression that transpired during pandemic, greater perceptions of individual vulnerability to the COVID-19 have emerged as a major predictor of increased depressive risk and severity in adults.METHODS:
We estimated the extent to which COVID-19 risk perceptions affected adult depressive symptoms in a longitudinal, nationally representative sample in South Africa. We used covariate balanced propensity scores to minimize the bias from treatment assignment to estimate average causal effects of COVID-19 risk perceptions.RESULTS:
The point prevalence of perceived COVID-19 infection risk increased between the third and fifth months of the pandemic, which corresponded with elevations in national COVID-19 infection rates. Approximately 33% of adults met or surpassed the PHQ-2 cut-off score of 2. An increase in perceived risk of COVID-19 infection predicted worse depressive symptoms in adults four months later.CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings highlight the widespread mental health burdens of the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasize the importance of greater psychological resources and structural changes to promote equitable access to COVID-19 risk mitigation policies.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pandemics
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
English
Journal:
J Affect Disord
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.jad.2022.04.072
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