The immediate impact of lockdown measures on mental health and couples’ relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results of a representative population survey in Germany
Sachser,C. Olaru,Gabriel Pfeiffer,Elisa Brähler,Elmar Clemens,Vera Rassenhofer,Miriam Wit,Andreas Fegert,Jörg M.
Sachser,C.
Olaru,Gabriel
Pfeiffer,Elisa
Brähler,Elmar
Clemens,Vera
Rassenhofer,Miriam
Wit,Andreas
Fegert,Jörg M.
Abstract
Background Lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to have negative effects on mental health and relationship quality. However, little is known about the magnitude of these psychological effects on a population level and for vulnerable subgroups. Methods A representative sample (N = 2503; 50.2% female; mean age = 49.5) of the German population was assessed face-to-face during the COVID-19 pandemic (February 10-April 25, 2020). They were examined for differences in mental health (BSI-18) and relationship quality (PFB) in a pre-lockdown and lockdown subsamples. After testing and establishing the measurement models in confirmatory factor analyses, we added covariates as predictors of the factors to the regression model to investigate the impact of the lockdown measures. Results Overall, participants included after the introduction of lockdown measures reported significantly fewer mental health problems than participants included before the lockdown. Predictor analyses revealed that this effect was larger for participants of younger age and those with higher household income. There was no significant difference in relationship quality between pre-lockdown and lockdown. However, relationship quality improved for younger participants after the lockdown measures started, but deteriorated for older participants. Conclusions The German population was found to be largely resilient to the immediate effects of lockdown on mental health and relationship quality. Older participants and those with lower socio-economic status might constitute risk groups during times of lockdown. Further studies in countries affected by more drastic lockdown measures and the long-term consequences of the pandemic are needed to inform decision makers about the psychological effects of lockdown.
Description
Funding Information: The work was partly funded by The Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues (JMF and MR). The funding source The Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues had no role in the study design, data collection, analyses or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit this paper for publication. The authors have not been paid to write this article by a pharmaceutical company or other agency. All authors had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
COVID-19, Corona, Mental health, Pandemic, Relationship quality
Citation
Sachser, C, Olaru, G, Pfeiffer, E, Brähler, E, Clemens, V, Rassenhofer, M, Wit, A & Fegert, J M 2021, 'The immediate impact of lockdown measures on mental health and couples’ relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic : Results of a representative population survey in Germany', Social Science & Medicine, vol. 278, 113954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113954
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess