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. 2024 Jun 14;82(1):86.
doi: 10.1186/s13690-024-01320-6.

Social distancing stress, anxiety/depression, COVID-19 diagnosis, gender identity, and immigration status

David Adzrago  1 , Jolyna Chiangong  2 , Cameron K Ormiston  2   3 , Oluwabunmi M Dada  4 , Antwan Jones  5 , Faustine Williams  6
Affiliations

Social distancing stress, anxiety/depression, COVID-19 diagnosis, gender identity, and immigration status

David Adzrago et al. Arch Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Strict social distancing public health measures to decrease COVID-19 spread increased social distancing stress. However, differences in social distancing stress by anxiety/depression symptoms are understudied, especially based on COVID-19 diagnosis status, gender identity, and immigration status. We examined whether the association between social distancing stress and anxiety/depression symptoms was moderated by COVID-19 diagnosis status, gender identity, and immigration status. We further examined the associations of social distancing stress with anxiety/depression symptoms, gender identity, and immigration status among individuals with and without COVID-19.

Methods: We utilized data from a national cross-sectional survey among adults aged ≥ 18 years in the United States between May 13, 2021, and January 9, 2022 (n = 5,255). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the associations.

Results: The prevalence of social distancing stress was higher among individuals with COVID-19 (79.23%) than among those without COVID-19 (67.51%). We observed significant associations between social distancing stress and anxiety/depression symptoms, moderated by COVID-19 diagnosis status, immigration status, and gender identity, respectively. Anxiety/depression symptoms were associated with social distancing stress among both individuals with and without COVID-19. Gender identity and immigration status were associated with social distancing stress among only individuals without COVID-19.

Conclusions: Our findings revealed that the association between social distancing stress and anxiety/depression varied by COVID-19 diagnosis status, gender identity, and immigration status. The findings underscore the need for more targeted psychological distress strategies to reduce social distancing stress and anxiety/depression among diverse US populations, while considering the impacts of COVID-19 diagnosis status, gender identity, and immigration status.

Keywords: COVID-19; Immigration; Mental health; Minority; Social distancing; Stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of stress due to social distancing by COVID-19 diagnosis status. The orange arrows represent comparisons of each of the six pairs based on Pearson Chi-Squared (χ2) tests with Bonferonni adjustment (i.e., the 0.05 alpha level was divided by the total number of pairwise tests to control for type 1 error). The arrows with dashes represent non-statistically significant difference while arrows with solid lines represent statistically significant difference. Thus, significant results were determined at 0.008 alpha level (0.05/6 = 0.008)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Differences in stress due to social distancing between and within anxiety/depression symptoms and COVID-19 diagnosis status
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Differences in stress due to social distancing between and within anxiety/depression symptoms and gender identity
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Differences in stress due to social distancing between and within anxiety/depression symptoms and immigration status/place of birth
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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