Abstract
This research seeks to explore the impact of COVID-19 on depressive symptoms, analyzing discrepancies of sexual orientation in a Portuguese-speaking sample. 1590 individuals participated, of which 63% were women, and 88% self-identified as straight. Participants responded to the depression sub-scale of the Beck Symptoms Iventory-18, the fear of COVID-19 scale and the COVID-19 negative impact scale. Depressive symptoms observed were higher than expected, and several significant differences were obtained: women and self-identified bisexual participants had higher levels of depressive symptoms compared to male and straight and gay or lesbian participants. Depressive symptoms negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with COVID-19 aggravated responses, fear of COVID-19, and negative impact of COVID-19. Hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that age, gender and sexual orientation explained 6% of the variance of depressive symptoms, and when fear and the negative impact of COVID-19 was added, the model explained 23% of results. This study provides an important contribution to the understanding of factors arising from the pandemic that may have an impact on the mental health of sexual minorities.
Highlights
Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, manifests itself as a severe acute respiratory syndrome [1]
Several studies that investigated mental health showed a higher prevalence of depression, anxiety and insomnia in the population during the outbreak of COVID-19, concluding that the pandemic had a negative impact on the mental health of the population [8,9,10]
Longitudinal methodologies would be important to assess the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on depressive symptoms in sexual minority groups. This was an important contribution to the analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic has unevenly affected the mental health of the world population
Summary
Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, manifests itself as a severe acute respiratory syndrome [1]. As of early March 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 virus had infected approximately 115,660,000 people worldwide, and nearly 2,572,000 died from complications of the disease [5]. Since it was declared a pandemic, the spread of COVID-19 has been the focus of attention for governments and populations [6], having turned into a crisis at various levels with consequences worldwide [7]. Several studies that investigated mental health showed a higher prevalence of depression, anxiety and insomnia in the population during the outbreak of COVID-19, concluding that the pandemic had a negative impact on the mental health of the population [8,9,10]. In Portugal, several investigations have shown that participants revealed significantly high levels of depression [12] and sadness during lockdown [13]
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