Abstract
The aim of this study is to evaluate factors associated with the subjective well-being (SWB) and suspected depression measured with WHO-5 among German adults during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey data were analyzed from the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring (COSMO) study, which collected data from 972, 1013, and 973 participants in time point 1 (19–20 May 2020), time point 2 (15–16 September 2020), and time point 3 (21–22 December 2020), respectively. Descriptive analyses and logistic regression analyses to identify the factors associated with suspected depression (WHO-5 ≤ 50) were conducted. Data showed that the mean WHO-5 scores in three time points were 56.17, 57.27, and 53.93, respectively. The risk of suspected depression was increased by about 1.5 times for females, 2.5–3 times among 18–24 year-olds compared to ages above 65 years, 1.5 times for singles, 2 times for those with chronic illnesses, and 2–3 times for people living in poverty. The main study findings show that German adult SWB is lower than pre-pandemic reference values. Special focus should be placed on vulnerable groups, such as females, younger persons, and people living in poverty who are most prone to a reduction in SWB and therefore suspected depression.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presented great challenges to all aspects of the health system, resulting in global morbidity and mortality worldwide.since the outbreak, people around the world experienced significant impacts on their well-being and mental health
Less than one-third of the people lived alone and more than two-thirds lived with others, in which half of them lived with another person and the rest lived with more than two persons
We used the group with high income as a reference and the results indicate that the poverty had a 2.90 (p-value: 0.034)-higher risk of suspected depression in time point 3
Summary
Since the outbreak, people around the world experienced significant impacts on their well-being and mental health. Various measures, such as physical distancing and the suspension of services to intervene in the spread of the coronavirus, brought mental health implications to the public discussion [1]. Stressors, such as social isolation, vast human loss, fear of contagion, novel living situations, financial strain, and uncertainty of employment and shelter, may impact subjective well-being (SWB) and mental health in the medium and long term [1–3]. Research comparing clinical mental health diagnosis and SWB scores suggest that a reduction in the SWB score may point
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