Autoren:	Beutel, Manfred E. Hettich, Nora Ernst, Mareike Schmutzer, Gabriele Tibubos, Ana N. Braehler, Elmar
Titel:	Mental health and loneliness in the German general population during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a representative pre-pandemic assessment
Online-Publikationsdatum:	5-Jul-2022
Erscheinungsdatum:	2021
Sprache des Dokuments:	Englisch
Zusammenfassung/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.
DDC-Sachgruppe:	610 Medizin 610 Medical sciences
Veröffentlichende Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Organisationseinheit:	FB 04 Medizin
Veröffentlichungsort:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-7306
Version:	Published version
Publikationstyp:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Nutzungsrechte:	CC BY
Informationen zu den Nutzungsrechten:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Zeitschrift:	Scientific reports 11
Seitenzahl oder Artikelnummer:	14946
Verlag:	Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
Verlagsort:	London
Erscheinungsdatum:	2021
ISSN:	2045-2322
DOI der Originalveröffentlichung:	10.1038/s41598-021-94434-8
Enthalten in den Sammlungen:	JGU-Publikationen