ABSTRACT

Background: A worldwide health threat, the COVID-19 pandemic, has highlighted the need to focus on its mental health impact. However, literature on mental health effects including post-traumatic consequences of the pandemic is scarce.

Objective: The current study examined post-traumatic stress (PTS), growth (PTG), and depreciation (PTD) during the pandemic, and explored factors associated with these mental health outcomes in an adult community sample from Turkey.

Method: A total of 685 participants responded to an online survey that gathered data on sociodemographic characteristics, financial loss during the pandemic, time spent at home and frequency of social media use, perception of COVID-related risks, stress, and event-related rumination. Data analysis included correlation and regression analyses.

Results: Results showed that PTS, PTG, and PTD were positively correlated with each other. Younger age and being single were associated with higher PTS and PTD, and lower education levels predicted all three outcomes. Experiencing financial loss during the pandemic, more frequent social media use to follow COVID-related news and posts, and longer time spent at home during the pandemic were associated with higher PTS. Anticipating financial risks during the pandemic were associated with all outcomes while anticipating health-related risks due to COVID-19 and perceived stress levels predicted PTS and PTD but not PTG. Both intrusive and deliberate rumination were associated with higher levels of PTS and PTD, and PTG was predicted solely by deliberate rumination. Moreover, provisional PTSD was indicated in 47.9% of the participants. Membership to the provisional PTSD group was predicted by age, level of education, time spent on social media, anticipating COVID‐19–related health risks, perceived stress, and event-related rumination.

Conclusions: The current study provides empirical evidence for the short-term post-traumatic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related factors, which can help to guide mental health services during the pandemic.

摘要

背景：全球健康威胁 COVID-19 大流行凸显了关注其心理健康影响的必要性。然而，关于心理健康影响（包括大流行的创伤后后果）的文献很少。

目的：当前的研究检查了大流行期间的创伤后压力 (PTS)、成长 (PTG) 和贬值 (PTD)，并探讨了土耳其成人社区样本中与这些心理健康结果相关的因素。

方法：共有 685 名参与者响应了一项在线调查，该调查收集了社会人口特征、大流行期间的经济损失、在家时间和社交媒体使用频率、对 COVID 相关风险的看法、压力和与事件相关的反思等数据. 数据分析包括相关和回归分析。

结果: 结果显示 PTS、PTG 和 PTD 彼此呈正相关。较年轻和单身与较高的 PTS 和 PTD 相关，而较低的教育水平预测了所有这三种结果。在大流行期间遭受财务损失、更频繁地使用社交媒体关注与 COVID 相关的新闻和帖子以及在大流行期间在家里呆的时间更长与更高的 PTS 相关。预测大流行期间的财务风险与所有结果相关，而预测因 COVID-19 引起的健康相关风险和感知压力水平可预测 PTS 和 PTD，但不能预测 PTG。侵入性和故意反刍都与较高水平的 PTS 和 PTD 相关，而 PTG 仅通过故意反刍预测。此外，47.9% 的参与者表现出临时性 PTSD。

结论：目前的研究为 COVID-19 大流行的短期创伤后影响及相关因素提供了实证证据，有助于指导大流行期间的心理健康服务。