Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020;44(6):1043-1051.
doi: 10.1007/s10608-020-10143-y. Epub 2020 Aug 29.

The Impact of Covid-19 Experiences and Associated Stress on Anxiety, Depression, and Functional Impairment in American Adults

Matthew W Gallagher  1   2 , Michael J Zvolensky  1   3 , Laura J Long  1 , Andrew H Rogers  1 , Lorra Garey  1
Affiliations

The Impact of Covid-19 Experiences and Associated Stress on Anxiety, Depression, and Functional Impairment in American Adults

Matthew W Gallagher et al. Cognit Ther Res. 2020.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on health and well-being worldwide and there is increasing recognition of the need to understand the psychological impact of COVID-19 experiences and stress in addition to the physical health consequences.

Methods: The present study examined how experiences related to COVID-19 and associated stress impact, anxiety, depression, and functional impairment in a convenience sample of 565 American adults (57.9% male) recruited through MTURK.

Results: COVID-19 experiences were consistently associated with higher odds of probable anxiety and depression diagnoses (ORs ≥ 3.0). COVID-19 associated stress also predicted large proportions of variance (R 2 ≥ 30) in anxiety, depression, health anxiety, and functional impairment in latent variable analyses.

Conclusions: These findings highlight that personal experiences related to the diagnosis of COVID-19, mortality in acquaintances, and COVID-19 associated stress is associated with a greatly elevated risk of emotional disorder symptomatology and that the COVID-19 pandemic may result in increased demand for mental health services.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVD-19; Coronavirus; Depression; Stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestMatthew W. Gallagher, Michael J. Zvolensky, Laura J. Long, Andrew H. Rogers, and Lorra Garey declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Structural equation model examining the effects of COVID-19 perceived stress on anxiety, depression, health anxiety, and functional impairment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Armitage R, Nellums B. COVID-19 and the consequences of isolating the elderly. The Lancet Public Health. 2020;5(5):e256. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30061-X. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barlow DH, Farchione TJ, Bullis JR, Gallagher MW, Latin H, Sauer-Zavala S, et al. The Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders compared with diagnosis-specific protocols for anxiety disorders: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA: Psychiatry. 2017;74:875–884. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.2164. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bentler PM. Comparative fit indexes in structural equation models. Psychological Bulletin. 1990;28:97–104. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bentley KH, Gallagher MW, Carl JR, Barlow DH. Development and validation of the overall depression severity and impairment scale. Psychological Assessment. 2014;26(3):815–830. doi: 10.1037/a0036216. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Busby KK, Lytle S, Sajatovic M. Mental health comorbidity and HIV/AIDS. Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide to HIV/AIDS. 2012 doi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-5283-6-2. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources