Psychological Well-Being Under Conditions of Lockdown: An Experience Sampling Study in Austria During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Stieger, Stefan; Lewetz, David; Swami, Viren

doi:10.31234/osf.io/qjhfp

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…University administrators could best serve students if they better understood the impacts of COVID-19 and the risk factors of its psychological impacts. These impacts are of critical importance to warrant immediate mental health interventions focused on prevention and treatment [ 12 ]. Psychiatric and counseling services have historically been underutilized by college students [ 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological impacts from COVID-19 among university students: Risk factors across seven states in the United States

et al. 2021

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Background University students are increasingly recognized as a vulnerable population, suffering from higher levels of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and disordered eating compared to the general population. Therefore, when the nature of their educational experience radically changes—such as sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic—the burden on the mental health of this vulnerable population is amplified. The objectives of this study are to 1) identify the array of psychological impacts COVID-19 has on students, 2) develop profiles to characterize students' anticipated levels of psychological impact during the pandemic, and 3) evaluate potential sociodemographic, lifestyle-related, and awareness of people infected with COVID-19 risk factors that could make students more likely to experience these impacts. Methods Cross-sectional data were collected through web-based questionnaires from seven U.S. universities. Representative and convenience sampling was used to invite students to complete the questionnaires in mid-March to early-May 2020, when most coronavirus-related sheltering in place orders were in effect. We received 2,534 completed responses, of which 61% were from women, 79% from non-Hispanic Whites, and 20% from graduate students. Results Exploratory factor analysis on close-ended responses resulted in two latent constructs, which we used to identify profiles of students with latent profile analysis, including high (45% of sample), moderate (40%), and low (14%) levels of psychological impact. Bivariate associations showed students who were women, were non-Hispanic Asian, in fair/poor health, of below-average relative family income, or who knew someone infected with COVID-19 experienced higher levels of psychological impact. Students who were non-Hispanic White, above-average social class, spent at least two hours outside, or less than eight hours on electronic screens were likely to experience lower levels of psychological impact. Multivariate modeling (mixed-effects logistic regression) showed that being a woman, having fair/poor general health status, being 18 to 24 years old, spending 8 or more hours on screens daily, and knowing someone infected predicted higher levels of psychological impact when risk factors were considered simultaneously. Conclusion Inadequate efforts to recognize and address college students’ mental health challenges, especially during a pandemic, could have long-term consequences on their health and education.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological impacts from COVID-19 among university students: Risk factors across seven states in the United States

et al. 2021

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“…Given data collection was conducted in March 2020, it is also difficult to know how our results may have been affected by the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, there is some preliminary evidence from Austria indicating that lockdown conditions may have curtailed exposure to outdoor natural environments, although being outdoors was still significantly associated with greater psychological well-being (Stieger, Lewetz, & Swami, 2020). In addition, future studies should endeavour to replicate our findings in other national and cultural groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Nature exposure and positive body image: (Re-)examining the mediating roles of connectedness to nature and trait mindfulness

et al. 2020

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Previous studies have reported a significant association between nature exposure and positive body image, but understandings of the mechanisms that help to explain this link remain nascent. Here, we considered the extent to which trait mindfulness and connectedness to nature, respectively, mediate the aforementioned relationship both in parallel and serially. An online sample of 398 participants (199 women, 196 men, 3 other; age M = 28.1 years) from the United Kingdom completed measures of self-reported nature exposure, mindful awareness and acceptance, connectedness to nature, and body appreciation. Results indicated that inter-correlations between scores on all measures were significant and positive. Following the elimination of non-significant pathways, path analysis resulted in an adequately-fitting model in which the direct relationship between nature exposure and body appreciation was significant. In addition, connectedness to nature-but not trait mindfulness-significantly mediated the direct relationship. Finally, we also found evidence of a serial mediation, where the association between nature exposure and body appreciation was mediated by mindful awareness followed by connectedness to nature. The implications of these results for scholarly and practitioner understanding of the impact of nature exposure on positive body image are discussed in conclusion.

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“…Importantly, these studies captured well-being in decontextualized ways and cannot speak to the effects on negative affect as it is experienced in people's daily lives, fluctuating from moment to moment and embedded into actual situations. The few existing experience sampling studies that investigated fluctuations in negative affect during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Fried et al, 2020;Huckins et al, 2020;Stieger et al, 2020) were all comparatively small (N = 80, 286, and 217, respectively), mostly focused on specific populations (e.g., college students), and did not examine personality predictors of negative affective states. Based on these gaps in the literature, a first goal of this research is to provide robust empirical evidence to resolve whether and how strongly neuroticism predicts negative affect level and variability in this unprecedented situation.…”

Section: Neuroticism and Emotional Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuroticism and emotional risk during the COVID-19 pandemic

Kroencke

Geukes

Utesch

et al. 2020

Journal of Research in Personality

179

153

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We embrace the values of openness and transparency in science (Schönbrodt et al., 2015; osf.io/4dvkw/). We therefore follow the 21-word solution (Simmons et al., 2012), or refer to project documentations in the OSF. We furthermore publish all raw data necessary to reproduce reported results and provide scripts for all data analyses reported in this manuscript (see http://go.wwu.de/t7hy9). We are grateful to Matthias P. Walther, Martje Kohlhoff, Tina N. Ricken, and Steffen Filz for their help collecting the data and to Tabea Straeten for her help with data documentation.

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Psychological Well-Being Under Conditions of Lockdown: An Experience Sampling Study in Austria During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 24 publications

References 55 publications

Psychological impacts from COVID-19 among university students: Risk factors across seven states in the United States

Psychological impacts from COVID-19 among university students: Risk factors across seven states in the United States

Nature exposure and positive body image: (Re-)examining the mediating roles of connectedness to nature and trait mindfulness

Neuroticism and emotional risk during the COVID-19 pandemic

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