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. 2023 Jul 27;18(7):e0288332.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288332. eCollection 2023.

Benefit finding and well-being over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic

Jessie B Moore  1 , Katharine C R Rubin  1 , Catherine A Heaney  1   2
Affiliations

Benefit finding and well-being over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic

Jessie B Moore et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

This study focuses on understanding benefit finding, the process of deriving growth from adversity, and its relationship to well-being amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (n = 701) completed online surveys at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after a shelter-in-place mandate was announced in California, USA. Identifying as female or of Asian descent, having a supportive social network, and reporting more distress were associated with higher levels of general benefit finding at all data collection points, while other demographics were not. Benefit finding exhibited small but statistically significant associations with two measures of well-being. Understanding the extent to which various groups of people experience benefit finding during ongoing adversity and how such benefit finding is associated with well-being may help to promote mental health during a collective trauma like the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Timeline of data collections, COVID-19 daily cases, and concurrent events.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Proportion of participants who answered “I experienced this to a great extent” or “I experienced this to a very great extent” on the benefit finding questions.
Note: The red asterisks represent a time point that is significantly different (p<0.05) from all other time points, while the other asterisks show pairwise differences.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Proportion of individuals’ general benefits scores that increased, decreased, or remained unchanged between time points.
Note: ** p<0.01; *** p<0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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