Uncertainty and psychological distress during COVID-19: What about protective factors?

Arwa Ben Salah, Briana N DeAngelis, Mustafa al'Absi, Arwa Ben Salah, Briana N DeAngelis, Mustafa al'Absi

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between perceived uncertainty and depression/ anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and it tested the moderating roles of resilience and perceived social support in this relationship. A cross-sectional study was conducted between March 31st and May 15th, 2020, using an online, multi-language, international survey built within Qualtrics. We collected data on sociodemographic features, perceived uncertainty, perceived social support, depression and anxiety symptoms, and resilience. A moderation model was tested using model 2 of Hayes' PROCESS macro for SPSS. The study included 3786 respondents from 94 different countries, 47.7% of whom reported residence in the United States of America. Results demonstrated that higher perceived uncertainty was associated with more symptoms of depression and anxiety. Higher resilience levels and higher perceived social support were associated with fewer depression and anxiety symptoms. The moderation hypotheses were supported; the relationship between uncertainty and symptoms of depression and anxiety decreased as levels of resilience increased and as perceived social support increased. The results suggest that resilience and social support could be helpful targets to reduce the negative effects of uncertainty on depression and anxiety symptoms.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03244-2.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Depression; Resilience; Social support; Uncertainty.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Conditional effects of perceived uncertainty on depression/ anxiety symptoms at different levels of perceived social support and resilience, n = 3786. PHQ4: 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire (Kroenke et al., 2009) measure of depression/ anxiety symptoms. Perceived uncertainty, perceived social support, and resilience were mean-centered prior to analysis. A, B, and C: Effects of perceived uncertainty on depression/ anxiety symptoms were probed at the mean (mean level), at one standard deviation above the mean (high level), and at one standard deviation below the mean (low level) of perceived social support across different levels of resilience

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