Mental Health during the COVID-19 Lockdown over the Christmas Period in Austria and the Effects of Sociodemographic and Lifestyle Factors

Rachel Dale, Sanja Budimir, Thomas Probst, Peter Stippl and Christoph Pieh
Additional contact information
Rachel Dale: Department for Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health, Danube University Krems, 3500 Krems, Austria
Sanja Budimir: Department for Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health, Danube University Krems, 3500 Krems, Austria
Thomas Probst: Department for Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health, Danube University Krems, 3500 Krems, Austria
Peter Stippl: Austrian Federal Association for Psychotherapy (ÖBVP), 1030 Vienna, Austria
Christoph Pieh: Department for Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health, Danube University Krems, 3500 Krems, Austria

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic a decline in mental health has been reported. This online study investigated mental health and well-being in Austria during a strict lockdown. In total, N = 1505 participants were recruited between 23 December 2020 and 4 January 2021 and levels of depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), sleep quality (ISI), well-being (WHO-5), quality of life (WHO-QOL) and stress (PSS-10) were measured. 26% scored above the cut-off for moderate depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ? 10; ? = 32%; ? = 21%), 23% above the cut-off for moderate anxiety (GAF-7 ? 10; ? = 29%; ? = 17%) and 18% above the cut-off for moderate insomnia (ISI ? 15; ? = 21%; ? = 16%). Mean-scores for quality of life (psychological WHO-QOL) were 68.89, for well-being (WHO-5) 14.34, and for stress (PSS-10) 16.42. The youngest age group (18–24) was most burdened and showed significantly more mental health symptoms compared with the oldest age group (65+) in depressive symptoms (50% vs. 12%), anxiety symptoms (35% vs. 10%), and insomnia (25% vs. 11%, all p -values < 0.05). Mental health decreased compared to both the first lockdown earlier in 2020 and pre-pandemic data. Further analyses indicate these findings were especially apparent for the under 24-year-olds, women, single/separated people, low incomes and those who do not partake in any physical activity (all p -values < 0.05). We highlight the need for ongoing mental health support, particularly to the most burdened groups.

Keywords: mental health; COVID-19; Austria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3679/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3679/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:7:p:3679-:d:528347

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().