Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Hungarian Adults

Csanád Szabó, Judit Pukánszky and Lajos Kemény
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Csanád Szabó: Department of Dermatology and Allergology, University of Szeged, 6720 Szeged, Hungary
Judit Pukánszky: Institute of Psychology, University of Szeged, 6720 Szeged, Hungary
Lajos Kemény: Department of Dermatology and Allergology, University of Szeged, 6720 Szeged, Hungary

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 24, 1-15

Abstract: We aimed to explore psychological effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Hungarian adults in the time of the national quarantine situation in May 2020.We conducted a cross-sectional observational study with the use of an anonymous online questionnaire that consisted of 65 items. The following measuring instruments were used: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10); The General Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD)-2; The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2; European Quality of Life Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS); Self-administered inventory of complaints (Hungarian questionnaire); Shortened (Hungarian) version of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire; 2 open-ended questions to examine the participants’ mood and ways of coping during the pandemic. The data of 431 participants were analyzed, their average age was 47.53 ± 11.66 years, and the percentage of females was 90%. The mean of participants’ scores were the following: 19.34 ± 7.97 for perceived stress, 73.05 ± 21.73 for health status, and 8.68 ± 4.65 for neurotic complaints. Thirty-four and one-tenth percent of participants were depressed, 36.2% were anxious, and they tended to use problem-focused coping strategies more frequently than emotion-focused ones. We found significant correlations between all of the seven examined psychological variables. Our results highlight the importance of stress management in the psychological support of healthy adults in quarantine situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; questionnaire design; psychological stress; coping skills; health status; depression; anxiety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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