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
. 2021 Jul 22;11(1):14946.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-94434-8.

Mental health and loneliness in the German general population during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a representative pre-pandemic assessment

Manfred E Beutel  1 , Nora Hettich  2 , Mareike Ernst  1 , Gabriele Schmutzer  3 , Ana N Tibubos  1 , Elmar Braehler  1
Affiliations

Mental health and loneliness in the German general population during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a representative pre-pandemic assessment

Manfred E Beutel et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

During the pandemic, the extent of subsequent mental health strains is an important issue. A representative face-to-face survey was conducted to assess mental health consequences in the general population and to identify mental health risk factors. In a representative German sample (N = 2,503), we assessed depression and anxiety symptoms by the PHQ-4 and loneliness by a validated item. An earlier survey (2018) which used the same methods and had comparable response rates served as comparison. Scores of depression and anxiety symptoms increased from an average of 0.89 (SD = 1.21) and 0.77 (SD = 1.17) in 2018 to 1.14 (SD = 1.23) and 1.05 (SD = 1.31) in 2020. Loneliness did not increase (M = 1.35, SD = 0.68 in 2018; M = 1.38, SD = 0.78 in 2020), affecting about one in four participants to some degree. Younger participants and women were most likely to report depression, anxiety, and loneliness. As in the previous survey, social inequality factors contributed to distress and loneliness. The small overall increase of distress was consistent with recent German panel studies. In future studies and mental health interventions female sex, younger age, and socioeconomic disparities need to be considered as vulnerability factors for distress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Depression scores in 2018 and 2020 by age group and sex. Analysis of variance: Survey (2018, 2020) by sex (male, female) by age group (14–29, 30–59, 60–95); F survey (df = 1) = 52.18, p < .001; F Sex (df = 1) = 14.36, p < .001; F age group (df = 2) = 3.31, p = .037; F survey by sex (df = 1) = 4.61, p = .03; F survey by age group (df = 2) = 15.11, p < .001; F sex by age group (df = 2) = 5.13, p = .006.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Anxiety scores in 2018 and 2020 by age group and sex. Analysis of variance: Survey (2018, 2020) by sex (male, female) by age group (14–29, 30–59, 60–95); F survey (df = 1) = 62.21, p < .001; F Sex (df = 1) = 44.02, p < .001; F age group (df = 2) = 2.27, p = .10; F survey by sex (df = 1) = 4.06, p = .04; F survey by age group (df = 2) = 13.41, p < .001; F sex by age group (df = 2) = 6.59, p = .013.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Loneliness scores in 2018 and 2020 by age group and sex. Analysis of variance: Survey (2018, 2020) by sex (male, female) by age group (14–29, 30–59, 60–95); F survey (df = 1) = 3.16, p = .076; F Sex (df = 1) = 22.75, p < .001; F age group (df = 2) = 4.99, p = .007; F survey by sex (df = 1) = 4.16, p = .041; F survey by age group (df = 2) = 10.64, p < .001; F sex by age group (df = 2) = 5.14, p = .006.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zielasek J, Gouzoulis-Mayfrank E. COVID-19-Pandemie: Psychische Störungen werden zunehmen. Dtsch Arztebl. 2020;117:A1114–1117.
    1. Holmes, E. A. et al. Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(6), 547–560 (2020). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vindegaard N, Benros ME. COVID-19 pandemic and mental health consequences: Systematic review of the current evidence. Brain Behav. Immun. 2020;89:531–542. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.048. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang, C. et al. Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 17(5), 1729. 10.3390/ijerph17051729 (2020). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Petzold, M. B. et al. Risk, resilience, psychological distress, and anxiety at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Brain Behav.10(9), 01745. 10.1002/brb3.1745 (2020). - PMC - PubMed

Publication types