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. 2024 Feb;127(1):64-91.
doi: 10.1177/00332941221110545. Epub 2022 Jun 29.

The Combined Outcomes of the COVID-19 Pandemic and a Collapsing Economy on Mental Well-Being: A Cross-Sectional Study

Hala Sacre  1 , Aline Hajj  2 , Danielle A Badro  3 , Carla Abou Selwan  4 , Chadia Haddad  5 , Randa Aoun  1 , Pascale Salameh  6
Affiliations

The Combined Outcomes of the COVID-19 Pandemic and a Collapsing Economy on Mental Well-Being: A Cross-Sectional Study

Hala Sacre et al. Psychol Rep. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to examine the outcomes of COVID-19 and a collapsing economy on the mental well-being (MWB) of the general Lebanese population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted online in May 2020 and enrolled 502 adults. Results: Mental well-being had a mean of 14.80 (14.37; 15.24). A lower MWB was associated with female gender (beta=-1.533 [-2.324; -0.743]), university education (beta=-2.119 [-3.353;-0.885]), fear of COVID-19 (beta=-0.131 [-0.199; -0.063]), fear of poverty (beta=-0.232 [-0.402;-0.063]), verbal violence at home (beta=-3.464 [-5.137; -1.790]), and chronic disease (beta=-1.307 [-2.283; -0.330]). Better family satisfaction (beta=0.380 [0.235; 0.525]) and better financial situation (beta=0.029 [0.003; 0.055]) were significantly correlated with better MWB. In the subsample of workers/looking for a job, additional factors affected MWB: physical exercise (beta =1.318 [0.370; 2.265]) was associated with better QOL, while being a previous waterpipe smoker, being self-employed before the crisis (beta=-1.22 [-2.208;-0.231]), working from home since the economic crisis (-1.853 [-3.692; -0.013]), and worrying about the long-term effects of the crisis on one's employment status (beta=-0.433 [-0.650; -0.216]) were associated lower MWB. It is noteworthy that closure of the institution yielded a borderline result (B = -1.2; p = .094), while the fear of COVID-19 was not significantly associated with MWB (B = -0.054; p =0.192). Conclusion: This study showed that, during the pandemic, economic and other factors, directly or indirectly related to COVID-19, significantly affected quality of life. The fear of COVID-19 and fear of poverty mainly impacted the MWB of the general population. However, the fear of COVID-19 lost its significance among workers, who reported that factors negatively affecting their MWB are directly related to their employment and the already collapsing economy in Lebanon.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; declining economy; fear of COVID-19; fear of poverty; mental well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Histogram of quality of life in the lebanese population (n = 502).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Subjective economic status assessment of lebanese population before and after COVID-19 crisis. Percentages are shown; p-value for McNemar-Bowker test <0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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