IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2022i1p339-d1015053.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Suicidality Levels in Young Adults Increased Two Years into the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Teodora Matić

    (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Peter Pregelj

    (Centre for Clinical Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinic Ljubljana, 1260 Ljubljana, Slovenia
    Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Aleksander Sadikov

    (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Polona Rus Prelog

    (Centre for Clinical Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinic Ljubljana, 1260 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Abstract

Background. The severity of both the COVID-19 clinical picture and confinement measures in Slovenia was higher during the initial phase of the pandemic in 2020 than during the Omicron wave in 2022. This could lead us to expect a higher level of distress during the initial phase. On the other hand, prolonged stress can have a detrimental effect on mental health. This study aimed to explore how the prolonged stress of the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying changes affected the mental health of young adults in Slovenia. We analyzed and compared the levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and suicidal ideation in young adults during the initial phase of the pandemic and the Omicron wave, as well as between the COVID-19-infected and non-infected individuals. Methods. An online survey was used to survey 587 young adults in the first wave (July–December 2020) and 511 in the Omicron wave (January–February 2022). Levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and suicidal ideation were compared using Mann–Whitney U test. Results. Results show that the Omicron wave significantly worsened depression, anxiety, stress, and suicidal ideation. Young adults who had tested positive for COVID-19 reported no worse or only slightly worse mental health than those who never tested positive. Conclusions. The current study provides new evidence about the mental health of young adults during the Omicron wave. Our results show that two years into the pandemic, they expressed more negative emotions and suicidal thoughts than at the beginning.

Suggested Citation

  • Teodora Matić & Peter Pregelj & Aleksander Sadikov & Polona Rus Prelog, 2022. "Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Suicidality Levels in Young Adults Increased Two Years into the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:339-:d:1015053
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/339/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/339/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cristina Mazza & Eleonora Ricci & Silvia Biondi & Marco Colasanti & Stefano Ferracuti & Christian Napoli & Paolo Roma, 2020. "A Nationwide Survey of Psychological Distress among Italian People during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-14, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. Pierre Zila-Velasque & Pamela Grados-Espinoza & Naomi Coba-Villan & Jocelyn Quispe-Chamorro & Yesenia F. Taipe-Guillén & Estefany Pacheco & Laura Ccasa-Valero & Virgilio E. Failoc-Rojas & Cristian , 2022. "Mental Disorders and Level of Resilience in Eight High-Altitude Cities of Peru during the Second Pandemic Wave: A Multicenter Population-Based Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Fumiya Tanji & Yuki Kodama, 2021. "Prevalence of Psychological Distress and Associated Factors in Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-10, October.
    3. Tiberiu Constantin Ionescu & Bogdana Ioana Fetecau & Stefan Zaharia & Elma-Maria Mînecan & Catalina Tudose, 2023. "Sleepless Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Insomnia Symptoms among Professionally Active Romanians during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Yi Ding & Jie Yang & Tingting Ji & Yongyu Guo, 2021. "Women Suffered More Emotional and Life Distress than Men during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Pathogen Disgust Sensitivity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-9, August.
    5. Ankica Kosic & Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović & Nebojša Petrović, 2021. "A Cross-Cultural Study of Distress during COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Protective and Risk Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-15, July.
    6. Yubin Ding & Junling Xu & Sisi Huang & Peipei Li & Cuizhen Lu & Shenghua Xie, 2020. "Risk Perception and Depression in Public Health Crises: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-17, August.
    7. María del Carmen Pérez-Fuentes & María del Mar Molero Jurado & África Martos Martínez & Elena Fernández-Martínez & Raquel Franco Valenzuela & Iván Herrera-Peco & Diana Jiménez-Rodríguez & Inmaculada M, 2020. "Design and Validation of the Adaptation to Change Questionnaire: New Realities in Times of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Stefania Scuri & Marina Tesauro & Fabio Petrelli & Ninfa Argento & Genny Damasco & Giovanni Cangelosi & Cuc Thi Thu Nguyen & Demetris Savva & Iolanda Grappasonni, 2022. "Use of an Online Platform to Evaluate the Impact of Social Distancing Measures on Psycho-Physical Well-Being in the COVID-19 Era," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-10, June.
    9. Alaa El-Sakran & Reem Salman & Ayman Alzaatreh, 2022. "Impacts of Emergency Remote Teaching on College Students Amid COVID-19 in the UAE," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-21, March.
    10. Lucía del Río-Casanova & Milagrosa Sánchez-Martín & Ana García-Dantas & Anabel González-Vázquez & Ania Justo, 2021. "Psychological Responses According to Gender during the Early Stage of COVID-19 in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-20, April.
    11. Mateusz Ciski & Krzysztof Rząsa, 2023. "Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression in the Investigation of Local COVID-19 Anomalies Based on Population Age Structure in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-23, May.
    12. Maria Didriksen & Thomas Werge & Janna Nissen & Michael Schwinn & Erik Sørensen & Kaspar R. Nielsen & Mie T. Bruun & Karina Banasik & Thomas F. Hansen & Christian Erikstrup & Sisse R. Ostrowski & Poul, 2021. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Sleep Quality, Stress Level and Health-Related Quality of Life—A Large Prospective Cohort Study on Adult Danes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-14, July.
    13. José Pais-Ribeiro & Alexandra Ferreira-Valente & Margarida Jarego & Elisabet Sánchez-Rodríguez & Jordi Miró, 2022. "COVID-19 Pandemic in Portugal: Psychosocial and Health-Related Factors Associated with Psychological Discomfort," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-13, March.
    14. Ewa Kupcewicz, 2022. "Global Self-Esteem and Stress Intensity in a Group of Polish Nurses—A Mediatory Role of a Sense of Coherence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-15, January.
    15. Arielle Kaim & Maya Siman-Tov & Eli Jaffe & Bruria Adini, 2021. "From Isolation to Containment: Perceived Fear of Infectivity and Protective Behavioral Changes during the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-12, June.
    16. Mario Lucchini & Tiziano Gerosa & Marta Pancheva & Maurizio Pisati & Chiara Respi & Egidio Riva, 2021. "Differential effects of COVID-19 and containment measures on mental health: Evidence from ITA.LI—Italian Lives, the Italian household panel," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-13, November.
    17. Alina Butu & Ioan Sebastian Brumă & Lucian Tanasă & Steliana Rodino & Codrin Dinu Vasiliu & Sebastian Doboș & Marian Butu, 2020. "The Impact of COVID-19 Crisis upon the Consumer Buying Behavior of Fresh Vegetables Directly from Local Producers. Case Study: The Quarantined Area of Suceava County, Romania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-25, July.
    18. Donya Gilan & Markus Müssig & Omar Hahad & Angela M. Kunzler & Simon Samstag & Nikolaus Röthke & Johannes Thrul & Frauke Kreuter & Michael Bosnjak & Philipp Sprengholz & Cornelia Betsch & Daniel Wolls, 2021. "Protective and Risk Factors for Mental Distress and Its Impact on Health-Protective Behaviors during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic between March 2020 and March 2021 in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-12, August.
    19. Juan Gómez-Salgado & Montserrat Andrés-Villas & Sara Domínguez-Salas & Diego Díaz-Milanés & Carlos Ruiz-Frutos, 2020. "Related Health Factors of Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-16, June.
    20. Daniela Marchetti & Roberta Maiella & Rocco Palumbo & Melissa D’Ettorre & Irene Ceccato & Marco Colasanti & Adolfo Di Crosta & Pasquale La Malva & Emanuela Bartolini & Daniela Biasone & Nicola Mammare, 2023. "Self-Reported Mental Health and Psychosocial Correlates during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Data from the General Population in Italy," Data, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-7, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:339-:d:1015053. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.