Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perceived Changes in Psychological Vulnerability, Resilience and Social Cohesion before, during and after Lockdown

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns have posed unique and severe challenges to our global society. To gain an integrative understanding of pervasive social and mental health impacts in 3522 Berlin residents aged 18 to 65, we systematically investigated the structural and temporal relationship between a variety of psychological indicators of vulnerability, resilience and social cohesion before, during and after the first lockdown in Germany using a retrospective longitudinal study design. Factor analyses revealed that (a) vulnerability and resilience indicators converged on one general bipolar factor, (b) residual variance of resilience indicators formed a distinct factor of adaptive coping capacities and (c) social cohesion could be reliably measured with a hierarchical model including four first-order dimensions of trust, a sense of belonging, social interactions and social engagement, and one second-order social cohesion factor. In the second step, latent change score models revealed that overall psychological vulnerability increased during the first lockdown and decreased again during re-opening, although not to baseline levels. Levels of social cohesion, in contrast, first decreased and then increased again during re-opening. Furthermore, participants who increased in vulnerability simultaneously decreased in social cohesion and adaptive coping during lockdown. While higher pre-lockdown levels of social cohesion predicted a stronger lockdown effect on mental health, individuals with higher social cohesion during the lockdown and positive change in coping abilities and social cohesion during re-opening showed better mental health recovery, highlighting the important role of social capacities in both amplifying but also overcoming the multiple challenges of this collective crisis.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; adaptive coping; mental health; resilience; social cohesion; vulnerability.

Figure 1

Measurement model with a bipolar resilience-vulnerability factor and a residual adaptive coping factor. Standardized factor loadings are reported. $\psi$ = variance, box = observed variable, circle = latent factor. Mean structure-related model elements are not depicted. Measurement errors are included in the model but not displayed in the figure for reasons of clarity.

Figure 2

Hierarchical measurement model of social cohesion. $\psi$ = variance, the variances of the first-order factors, $\psi$₇–$\psi$₁₀, are error variances; box = observed variable; circle = latent factor. Mean structure-related model elements are not depicted. Standardized second-order factor loadings are reported. Measurement errors are included in the model but not displayed in the figure for reasons of clarity.

Figure 3

Latent change score (LCS) model with changes from baseline (T1) to the first lockdown (T2) and from lockdown to post-lockdown (T3) in resilience-vulnerability (r-v), adaptive coping (ac) and social cohesion (sc). Significance levels of * α = 0.05, ** α = 0.01 and *** α = 0.001.

Figure 4

State change in resilience-vulnerability, adaptive coping and social cohesion as impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown. Means and 95% confidence intervals of latent factors are reported. For ease of interpretation, factors are scaled to marker indicators [122]. Significance level of * α = 0.001.

Figure 5

Scatterplots for the illustration of correlations between resilience-vulnerability, adaptive coping and social cohesion at baseline (T1) and of changes from baseline to the first lockdown (T2) and from lockdown to post-lockdown (T3). Negative change scores indicate a decrease, positive scores indicate an increase. The figure shows no correlation between resilience-vulnerability and adaptive coping at T1, because they are defined as orthogonal.

Figure 6

Between-construct time-lagged regression paths of (A) the relationship between baseline levels (T1) of resilience-vulnerability (r-v), adaptive coping (ac) or social cohesion (sc), and changes in those factors from pre-lockdown to lockdown (LCS 1); and (B) the relationship between lockdown state (T2) of resilience-vulnerability, adaptive coping and social cohesion, and changes in those factors from lockdown to post-lockdown (LCS 2). Significance level of ** α = 0.01.