The psychological response and perception of stress during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Slovenia: Three‐wave repeated cross‐sectional study

Abstract

In addition to COVID‐19 being a health threat, its longevity and restrictions act as significant stressors and risk for mental health. In the current study, we take a look at how psychological response, both its positive aspects, for example, mental well‐being and life satisfaction, and its negative aspects, for example, anxiety and COVID‐19 anxiety, have changed as the pandemic has continued (first three waves in Slovenia). Additionally, we are interested in whether the psychological response is associated with the perception of stress level in waves 2 and 3 as less, equally or more stressful when compared to the stress level in wave 1 and what shapes these perceptions. An online questionnaire battery (COVID‐19 stress level comparison, Warwick‐Edinburgh Mental Well‐being Scale; LAOM Anxiety Scale; Global Life Satisfaction scale; COVID‐19 anxiety), with ANOVA and qualitative analysis of the open‐ended question on reasons for perceiving wave 2 and wave 3 as more stressful when compared to wave 1, was used on a Slovene convenience adult sample (wave 1: N = 364, 83.5% female; wave 2: N = 987, 85.5% female; wave 3: N = 467, 78.5% female). The findings show (a) a significant increase in COVID‐19 anxiety from wave 1 to wave 3, with a peak in wave 2, and a significant decrease in mental well‐being from wave 1 to wave 3; (b) the level of anxiety, mental well‐being, and life satisfaction differs significantly between individuals who perceive wave 2 and 3 as more stressful compared to individuals who perceive wave 2 and wave 3 as equally or less stressful when compared to wave 1; (c) reasons for perceiving the succeeding waves of the pandemic as more stressful compared to wave 1 are diverse, with some being reported in both succeeding waves (e.g., negative emotional response to the pandemic, negative perceptions of measures). The findings highlight the important role of stress analysis in identifying the support mechanisms for dealing with the challenges of the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Greater knowledge about COVID-19, more negative emotions. Research in adult Poles after 2nd and 5th waves of the pandemic

“…Both surveys showed the lowest ratings related to illness coherence, reflecting the ability to make sense of and cope with the pandemic. These findings suggest that mental representation of COVID-19 changed in some ways, and what is common to our results and those reported by others is the increase in knowledge about COVID-19, stronger sense of negative emotions and consequences of COVID-19 after several waves of the pandemic [4,31,[33][34][35][36]39]. Our findings are consistent with results reported in a longitudinal study [24], which showed that the highest level in the hierarchy of COVID-19 representations was occupied by a sense of negative consequences, while the lowest level was occupied by sense of personal control.…”

“…There was also a change in the emotional representation of the disease. Initial increase in negative emotions [23,31] was followed with a slight decrease in the negative perceptions of COVID-19 [4], and even with a sense of positive changes in life [32]. However, a meta-analysis [33] of research reports focusing on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that stress and mental burden in this case were comparable to war time experiences.…”

Times Are Harsh, Be Kind to Yourself! Anxiety, Life Satisfaction, and the Mediating Role of Self-Compassion

“…For example, the longitudinal investigation conducted by Benke et al (2022) suggested that participants’ life satisfaction decreased from baseline (May 2020) to 6 months (November 2020) and 1-year follow-up (June 2021). Similar effects were reported by Kozina et al (2022) in their related 3-wave longitudinal research. These parallel findings suggested a similar pattern of decrease in life satisfaction since the beginning of this worldwide health crisis.…”

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological health in a sample of Italian adults: A three-wave longitudinal study

“…Moreover, a three-wave panel survey of the population in Denmark showed a significant decrease in psychological well-being from April 2020 to December 2020 ( Sønderskov et al., 2021 ) and a recent study identified the fear of contracting the virus as a strong risk factor in developing stress-related conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Hagger et al., 2020 ). Finally, a three-wave longitudinal study resulting in the three lockdowns in Slovenia showed a decrease in psychological well-being and an increase in COVID-19 related anxiety from wave 1 to wave 3 especially for those individuals who perceived wave 2 and wave 3 as more stressful than wave 1 ( Kozina et al., 2022 ).…”

“…Various studies longitudinally explored the population's mental health on successive time points from the beginning of the pandemic (e.g., Kozina et al., 2022 ; Sønderskov et al., 2021 ). However, the vast majority of these studies focused on specific psychiatric symptoms (e.g., anxiety) or included samples with pre-existing mental health problems.…”