Cargando…

Fear, depression, and well-being during COVID-19 in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison

Various studies have shown a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, only a few studies have explored fear, depression, and well-being cross-culturally during this time. Accordingly, we present the results of a cross-cultural study that...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Holm-Hadulla, Rainer M., Mayer, Claude-Hélène, Wendler, Hannes, Kremer, Thomas L., Kotera, Yasuhiro, Herpertz, Sabine C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9671164/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36405127
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.920125
_version_ 1784832481167409152
author Holm-Hadulla, Rainer M.
Mayer, Claude-Hélène
Wendler, Hannes
Kremer, Thomas L.
Kotera, Yasuhiro
Herpertz, Sabine C.
author_facet Holm-Hadulla, Rainer M.
Mayer, Claude-Hélène
Wendler, Hannes
Kremer, Thomas L.
Kotera, Yasuhiro
Herpertz, Sabine C.
author_sort Holm-Hadulla, Rainer M.
collection PubMed
description Various studies have shown a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, only a few studies have explored fear, depression, and well-being cross-culturally during this time. Accordingly, we present the results of a cross-cultural study that (1) compares these mental health scores for German and South African students, (2) compares the correlations among them, and (3) identifies COVID-19 fear, well-being, and depression predictors. German and South African societies differ from each other socio-culturally, politically, and economically. Their university systems also differ to a large extent. University students in both countries completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Welch’s t-test, correlation, and multiple regression analyses were performed. (1) German students were found to have statistically lower levels of COVID-19 fear and depression, but lower levels of general well-being than South African students. (2) In both samples, fear of COVID-19 was negatively correlated with well-being and positively associated with female gender and depression. (3) Additionally, female gender, depression, and lower well-being were identified as predictors of COVID-19 fear in both samples. The findings indicate that the fear of COVID-19 is associated with and varies according to gender, depression, and well-being across cultures, and that the difference in the intensity of fear between German and South African students may be partly explained by cultural and contextual differences. These findings can create a deeper understanding of the pandemic’s impact on student communities and may be used by mental health practitioners and researchers to develop and apply culture-specific interventions.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9671164
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-96711642022-11-18 Fear, depression, and well-being during COVID-19 in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison Holm-Hadulla, Rainer M. Mayer, Claude-Hélène Wendler, Hannes Kremer, Thomas L. Kotera, Yasuhiro Herpertz, Sabine C. Front Psychol Psychology Various studies have shown a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, only a few studies have explored fear, depression, and well-being cross-culturally during this time. Accordingly, we present the results of a cross-cultural study that (1) compares these mental health scores for German and South African students, (2) compares the correlations among them, and (3) identifies COVID-19 fear, well-being, and depression predictors. German and South African societies differ from each other socio-culturally, politically, and economically. Their university systems also differ to a large extent. University students in both countries completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Welch’s t-test, correlation, and multiple regression analyses were performed. (1) German students were found to have statistically lower levels of COVID-19 fear and depression, but lower levels of general well-being than South African students. (2) In both samples, fear of COVID-19 was negatively correlated with well-being and positively associated with female gender and depression. (3) Additionally, female gender, depression, and lower well-being were identified as predictors of COVID-19 fear in both samples. The findings indicate that the fear of COVID-19 is associated with and varies according to gender, depression, and well-being across cultures, and that the difference in the intensity of fear between German and South African students may be partly explained by cultural and contextual differences. These findings can create a deeper understanding of the pandemic’s impact on student communities and may be used by mental health practitioners and researchers to develop and apply culture-specific interventions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-11-03 /pmc/articles/PMC9671164/ /pubmed/36405127 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.920125 Text en Copyright © 2022 Holm-Hadulla, Mayer, Wendler, Kremer, Kotera and Herpertz. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Holm-Hadulla, Rainer M.
Mayer, Claude-Hélène
Wendler, Hannes
Kremer, Thomas L.
Kotera, Yasuhiro
Herpertz, Sabine C.
Fear, depression, and well-being during COVID-19 in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison
title Fear, depression, and well-being during COVID-19 in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison
title_full Fear, depression, and well-being during COVID-19 in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison
title_fullStr Fear, depression, and well-being during COVID-19 in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison
title_full_unstemmed Fear, depression, and well-being during COVID-19 in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison
title_short Fear, depression, and well-being during COVID-19 in German and South African students: A cross-cultural comparison
title_sort fear, depression, and well-being during covid-19 in german and south african students: a cross-cultural comparison
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9671164/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36405127
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.920125
work_keys_str_mv AT holmhadullarainerm feardepressionandwellbeingduringcovid19ingermanandsouthafricanstudentsacrossculturalcomparison
AT mayerclaudehelene feardepressionandwellbeingduringcovid19ingermanandsouthafricanstudentsacrossculturalcomparison
AT wendlerhannes feardepressionandwellbeingduringcovid19ingermanandsouthafricanstudentsacrossculturalcomparison
AT kremerthomasl feardepressionandwellbeingduringcovid19ingermanandsouthafricanstudentsacrossculturalcomparison
AT koterayasuhiro feardepressionandwellbeingduringcovid19ingermanandsouthafricanstudentsacrossculturalcomparison
AT herpertzsabinec feardepressionandwellbeingduringcovid19ingermanandsouthafricanstudentsacrossculturalcomparison