Psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: Combining a web survey with experience sampling methodology

COVID-19-related regulations have impacted the economy and people's well-being, highlighting the long-standing problem of inequality. This research explored how COVID-19-related restrictive policies, such as a lockdown or social distancing, affected people's well-being. In Study 1, a cross...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPloS one Vol. 18; no. 3; p. e0282649
Main Authors Shevchenko, Yury, Huber, Noemi, Reips, Ulf-Dietrich
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 24.03.2023
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:COVID-19-related regulations have impacted the economy and people's well-being, highlighting the long-standing problem of inequality. This research explored how COVID-19-related restrictive policies, such as a lockdown or social distancing, affected people's well-being. In Study 1, a cross-sectional online survey (N = 685), we examined the associations between socio-economic characteristics, the number of resources, their relative change, people's stress levels, and their support of restrictive policies. We found that financial loss due to COVID-19, the number of children at home, and the intensity of restrictive measures were associated with higher stress by restrictive measures. The lower support for restrictive measures was observed among those who experienced financial loss due to COVID-19, had more children at home, less frequently accessed COVID-19-related information in the media, and did not perform self-isolation. Men were generally less supportive of restrictions than women, and the number of new COVID-19 cases was negatively related to the support. Lower stress and higher support for restrictive measures were positively associated with life satisfaction. In Study 2, an experience-sampling survey (Nparticipants = 46, Nresponses = 1112), the participants rated their well-being and level of available resources daily for one month. We observed that daily increases in well-being, characterized by higher life satisfaction and lower levels of stress and boredom, were positively associated with more social communication and being outdoors. In summary, the findings support the resource and demand framework, which states that people with access to resources can better cope with the demands of restrictive policies. Implications for policies and interventions to improve well-being are discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0282649