Cargando…

Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups

Abundant studies have examined mental health in the early periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, empirical work examining the mental health impact of the pandemic’s subsequent phases remains limited. In the present study, we investigated how mental vulnerability and resilience evolved over the v...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Godara, Malvika, Rademacher, Jessie, Hecht, Martin, Silveira, Sarita, Voelkle, Manuel C., Singer, Tania
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10177770/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37174848
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11091305
_version_ 1785040703868370944
author Godara, Malvika
Rademacher, Jessie
Hecht, Martin
Silveira, Sarita
Voelkle, Manuel C.
Singer, Tania
author_facet Godara, Malvika
Rademacher, Jessie
Hecht, Martin
Silveira, Sarita
Voelkle, Manuel C.
Singer, Tania
author_sort Godara, Malvika
collection PubMed
description Abundant studies have examined mental health in the early periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, empirical work examining the mental health impact of the pandemic’s subsequent phases remains limited. In the present study, we investigated how mental vulnerability and resilience evolved over the various phases of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 in Germany. Data were collected (n = 3522) across seven measurement occasions using validated and self-generated measures of vulnerability and resilience. We found evidence for an immediate increase in vulnerability during the first lockdown in Germany, a trend towards recovery when lockdown measures were eased, and an increase in vulnerability with each passing month of the second lockdown. Four different latent trajectories of resilience–vulnerability emerged, with the majority of participants displaying a rather resilient trajectory, but nearly 30% of the sample fell into the more vulnerable groups. Females, younger individuals, those with a history of psychiatric disorders, lower income groups, and those with high trait vulnerability and low trait social belonging were more likely to exhibit trajectories associated with poorer mental well-being. Our findings indicate that resilience–vulnerability responses in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been more complex than previously thought, identifying risk groups that could benefit from greater support.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10177770
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-101777702023-05-13 Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups Godara, Malvika Rademacher, Jessie Hecht, Martin Silveira, Sarita Voelkle, Manuel C. Singer, Tania Healthcare (Basel) Article Abundant studies have examined mental health in the early periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, empirical work examining the mental health impact of the pandemic’s subsequent phases remains limited. In the present study, we investigated how mental vulnerability and resilience evolved over the various phases of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 in Germany. Data were collected (n = 3522) across seven measurement occasions using validated and self-generated measures of vulnerability and resilience. We found evidence for an immediate increase in vulnerability during the first lockdown in Germany, a trend towards recovery when lockdown measures were eased, and an increase in vulnerability with each passing month of the second lockdown. Four different latent trajectories of resilience–vulnerability emerged, with the majority of participants displaying a rather resilient trajectory, but nearly 30% of the sample fell into the more vulnerable groups. Females, younger individuals, those with a history of psychiatric disorders, lower income groups, and those with high trait vulnerability and low trait social belonging were more likely to exhibit trajectories associated with poorer mental well-being. Our findings indicate that resilience–vulnerability responses in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been more complex than previously thought, identifying risk groups that could benefit from greater support. MDPI 2023-05-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10177770/ /pubmed/37174848 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11091305 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Godara, Malvika
Rademacher, Jessie
Hecht, Martin
Silveira, Sarita
Voelkle, Manuel C.
Singer, Tania
Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups
title Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups
title_full Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups
title_fullStr Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups
title_full_unstemmed Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups
title_short Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups
title_sort heterogeneous mental health responses to the covid-19 pandemic in germany: an examination of long-term trajectories, risk factors, and vulnerable groups
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10177770/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37174848
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11091305
work_keys_str_mv AT godaramalvika heterogeneousmentalhealthresponsestothecovid19pandemicingermanyanexaminationoflongtermtrajectoriesriskfactorsandvulnerablegroups
AT rademacherjessie heterogeneousmentalhealthresponsestothecovid19pandemicingermanyanexaminationoflongtermtrajectoriesriskfactorsandvulnerablegroups
AT hechtmartin heterogeneousmentalhealthresponsestothecovid19pandemicingermanyanexaminationoflongtermtrajectoriesriskfactorsandvulnerablegroups
AT silveirasarita heterogeneousmentalhealthresponsestothecovid19pandemicingermanyanexaminationoflongtermtrajectoriesriskfactorsandvulnerablegroups
AT voelklemanuelc heterogeneousmentalhealthresponsestothecovid19pandemicingermanyanexaminationoflongtermtrajectoriesriskfactorsandvulnerablegroups
AT singertania heterogeneousmentalhealthresponsestothecovid19pandemicingermanyanexaminationoflongtermtrajectoriesriskfactorsandvulnerablegroups