Subjective Well-being during the Pandemic: A Pilot Study in the Cuban Population

BACKGROUND: The study of aspects related to positive mental health and well-being in the general population with a gender approach is a necessity in the current context imposed by COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: To explore gender as a predictor of subjective well-being during COVID-19 in a sample of the Cuban population. DESIGN: A cross-sectional web-based survey design was adopted. The sample consisted of 129 Cuban participants. The Subjective Well-being-Reduced Scale (SW-RS) was used to explore subjective well-being in the sample. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the participants’ characteristics. A multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify variables independently associated with the participants’ subjective well-being. RESULTS: The gender of participants significantly predicted subjective well-being levels. The probability of males having middle or high levels of subjective well-being, rather than low levels, was 4.16 times greater than in females. The probability of males having a high self-image instead of a low one was 4.35 times greater than in females. According to the self-satisfaction dimension, the odds of males having high rather than low self-satisfaction were five times more than in females. In this sample, gender did not predict whether participants had middle or high levels of the hedonic dimension. CONCLUSION: Our results corroborated international studies that have indicated the coincidence of lower well-being and greater psychosocial risk in women during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results also indicated the need to dig deeper into the experiences of subjective well-being from a gender perspective, and to strengthen the sufficiency and effectiveness of the actions and guidance that are offered to the population from psychological care services, the media, and public policies.