Abstract
This study examined the correlation between depressive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, and social support before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and verified causal relationships among them. The study used Social Support Scale and Symptom Self-Rating Scale to investigate relevant variables. A total of 1,414 employees from company were recruited for this longitudinal study, which a follow up study was conducted on the same group of participants 1 year later. Paired sample t-test results showed that significant differences were only found in social support, not in depressive symptoms or interpersonal sensitivity. The results of correlation analysis showed that social support, depressive symptoms, and interpersonal sensitivity were significantly correlated between wave 1 and wave 2. The cross-lag autoregressive pathway showed that employees’ social support level, depressive symptoms, and interpersonal sensitivity all showed moderate stability. Crossing paths showed that wave 1 social support could significantly predict wave 2 depressive symptoms (β = −0.21, p < 0.001) and wave 2 interpersonal sensitivity (β = −0.21, p < 0.001). Wave 1 depressive symptoms (β = −0.10, p < 0.01) could significantly predict wave 2 social support, while wave 1 interpersonal sensitivity (β = 0.07, p = 0.10) could not predict wave 2 social support. Social support can be considered as a protective factor against mental health problems.
Highlights
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, 1.9 million confirmed cases and more than 30,000 deaths have been reported globally as of 31 August 2020 (WHO, 2020)
The wave 1 social support was negatively correlated with the depressive symptom and interpersonal sensitivity of wave 1 and wave 2, and significantly positively correlated with the wave 2 social support
This study provided longitudinal evidence of temporal interrelationship between depressive symptom, interpersonal sensitivity, and social support
Summary
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, 1.9 million confirmed cases and more than 30,000 deaths have been reported globally as of 31 August 2020 (WHO, 2020). In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, many countries have actively adopted to protective alienation measures, such as social isolation. Changes in lifestyle and limited transportation may cause negative emotions among residents and affect their mental health status (Lemanska et al, 2021). Mental Health and Social Support health problems, such as depressive symptom, has increased in recent years (Henderson et al, 2014). According to the latest research of the World Health Organization, depressive symptom causes about 1 trillion US dollars of losses to the global economy every year (WHO, 2019). Depressive symptom is the most serious mental health problem affecting employees and businesses
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