ArticleAnnals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine2021
Trajectories of Mental Distress Among U.S. Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Article in Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 108 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assets and depression in U.S. adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- The global evolution of mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Pooled it
- A HOPE Online Community Peer Support Intervention for Help Seeking: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) · 2023Trial
- Navigating Shared Stress: Dyadic Links Between COVID-19 Stressors and Mental Health in Low-Income Latine Youth and Mothers.Journal of latinx psychology · 2026Article
- Vocational factors and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in middle-aged and older adults: longitudinal evidence from a population-based cohort.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on symptoms of depression and anxiety among older adults: the MYHAT study.Aging & mental health · 2025Article
- The mental health impact of repeated COVID-19 enforced lockdowns in England: evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study.BJPsych open · 2025Article
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- Associations between Driving Cessation and Mental Health among Rural and Urban Older Adults.Rural mental health · 2025Article
- Sleep problems were unrelated to social media use in the late COVID-19 pandemic phase: A cross-national study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Pre-pandemic Individual and Household Predictors of Caregiver and Child COVID-19-Related Stress in a High-Risk Sample.Child protection and practice · 2024Article
- Gendered Racism in Pregnancy and Stress among Women in the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic.International perspectives in psychology : research, practice, consultation · 2024Article
- Trajectories of symptoms of depression, distress, and resilience in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and toward its end in Czechia.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2024Article
- Benefits and Process of Providing Peer Support for Pediatric Burn Survivors and Caregivers during Inpatient and Outpatient Phases of Recovery.Seminars in plastic surgery · 2024Review
- Variation in symptoms of common mental disorders in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal cohort study.BJPsych open · 2024Article
- Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Among Cisgender Gay and Bisexual Men During the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Time Series Analysis of a US National Cohort Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Depressive Symptom Change Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Impact on Psychiatric Treatment Seeking: A 24-Month Observational Study of the Adult Population.Depression and anxiety · 2024Observational
- Gender, psychological distress, and subjective well-being two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.Cadernos de saude publica · 2024Article
- Temporal dynamics of socioeconomic inequalities in depressive and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCross-sectional studies have found that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively affected population-level mental health. Longitudinal studies are necessary to examine trajectories of change in mental health over time and identify sociodemographic groups at risk for persistent distress. PURPOSE: To examine the trajectories of mental distress between March 10 and August 4, 2020, a key period during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsParticipants included 6,901 adults from the nationally representative Understanding America Study, surveyed at baseline between March 10 and 31, 2020, with nine follow-up assessments between April 1 and August 4, 2020. Mixed-effects logistic regression was used to examine the association between date and self-reported mental distress (measured with the four-item Patient Health Questionnaire) among U.S. adults overall and among sociodemographic subgroups defined by sex, age, race/ethnicity, household structure, federal poverty line, and census region.
resultsCompared to March 11, the odds of mental distress among U.S. adults overall were 1.84 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.65-2.07) times higher on April 1 and 1.92 (95% CI = 1.62-2.28) times higher on May 1; by August 1, the odds of mental distress had returned to levels comparable to March 11 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.66-0.96). Females experienced a sharper increase in mental distress between March and May compared to males (females: OR = 2.29, 95% CI = 1.85-2.82; males: OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.15-2.02).
conclusionsThese findings highlight the trajectory of mental health symptoms during an unprecedented pandemic, including the identification of populations at risk for sustained mental distress.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.