Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic threatened our physical health, alongside our mental and social wellbeing. Social distancing requirements, which are necessary to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, increased social isolation by limiting social interactions that are an essential part of human wellbeing. In this study, we examined the stress caused by COVID-19 early on in the pandemic through the lens of sociability among a large sample of preservice educators (N = 2,183). We found that individuals who have higher sociability (including deriving joy from social interactions and using social support to manage emotions) experienced greater COVID-19 stress. This study also contributed to prior literature which has sought to relate pandemic-related stress to demographic group differences. We found no significant relationship between demographic membership (gender, race, and sexual orientation) and COVID-19 stress. This study is among the first, however, to demonstrate that vulnerability to pandemic stress varies as a function of sociability. Implications of these findings and ways people can better cope with pandemic isolation are discussed.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected people’s lives, with adverse physical and mental health impacts (Kumar and Nayar, 2020; Restubog et al, 2020; O’Connor et al, 2021)
The impact of this stress was significant, and recent studies suggest that COVID-19 stress may be a risk factor for more severe health issues like PTSD (Di Crosta et al, 2020) Recent meta-analysis studies showed that the global prevalence estimate for stress during COVID-19 was 36.5%, and globally, nearly one-quarter of the population experienced posttraumatic stress symptoms as a result of the pandemic (Cooke et al, 2020; Nochaiwong et al, 2021)
Initial analyses revealed sociability was positively correlated with COVID-19 stress
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected people’s lives, with adverse physical and mental health impacts (Kumar and Nayar, 2020; Restubog et al, 2020; O’Connor et al, 2021). At the height of the pandemic, country-level estimates of pandemic stress were as high as 40% (Montano and Acebes, 2020), and in the U.S more than 40% of people reported adverse mental health experiences (Czeisler et al, 2020). The impact of this stress was significant, and recent studies suggest that COVID-19 stress may be a risk factor for more severe health issues like PTSD (Di Crosta et al, 2020) Recent meta-analysis studies showed that the global prevalence estimate for stress during COVID-19 was 36.5%, and globally, nearly one-quarter of the population experienced posttraumatic stress symptoms as a result of the pandemic (Cooke et al, 2020; Nochaiwong et al, 2021).
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