Social Estrangement and Psychological Distress before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Patterns of Change in Canadian Workers.
J Health Soc Behav
; 61(4): 398-417, 2020 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-934192
ABSTRACT
This article argues that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated social distancing measures intended to slow the rate of transmission of the virus resulted in greater subjective isolation and community distrust, in turn adversely impacting psychological distress. To support this argument, we examine data from the Canadian Quality of Work and Economic Life Study, two national surveys of Canadian workers-one from late September 2019 (N = 2,477) and the second from mid-March 2020 (N = 2,446). Analyses show that subjective isolation and community distrust increased between the two surveys, which led to a substantial rise in psychological distress. Increases in subjective isolation were stronger in older respondents, resulting in a greater escalation in psychological distress. These findings support a Durkheimian perspective on the harm to social integration and mental health caused by periods of rapid social change but also illustrate how a life course context can differentiate individual vulnerability to disintegrative social forces.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Social Isolation
/
Stress, Psychological
/
Mental Health
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
J Health Soc Behav
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
0022146520970190
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