SynthesisCurrent opinion in psychology2022
One year on: What we have learned about the psychological effects of COVID-19 social restrictions: A meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Current opinion in psychology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- COVID-19 and common mental health symptoms in the early phase of the pandemic: An umbrella review of the evidence.PLoS medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Are you coping how I'm coping? An exploratory factor analysis of the Brief-COPE among caregivers of children with and without learning disabilities during COVID-19 restrictions in the UK.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2026Article
- Life-long coping patterns and bio-psycho-social predictors of individual responses to the COVID-19 pandemic-protocol of the Rostock Longitudinal Study (ninth wave).Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Article
- Mental health during and after the COVID-19 pandemic - a longitudinal study over 42 months in five European countries.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Association between self-reported vision and mental well-being: a cross-sectional secondary analysis of Health Survey for England data.BMJ open · 2025Article
- How Does Meaning-Centered Coping Influence College Students' Mental Health? The Mediating Roles of Interdependent Self-Construal and School Connectedness.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Role of Social Media in Mitigating the Long-Term Impact of Social Isolation on Mental and Cognitive Health in Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The HUNT Study.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2025Observational
- Mental health among Chinese university students during COVID-19: 28-month, ten-wave longitudinal study.BJPsych open · 2025Article
- Associations between mental health and lifestyle changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in a general Japanese population: NIPPON DATA2010.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2025Article
- Increased prevalence of inflammatory arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis, during 2020-2023 versus 2016-2019 in a Nation-Wide Cohort Study.Rheumatology international · 2024Article
- COVID-19 and changes in young adults' weight concerns.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- The effect of social support on home isolation anxiety and depression among college students in the post-pandemic era: the mediating effect of perceived loss of control and the moderating role of family socioeconomic status.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- The crisis is over, long live the crisis: mental health in emerging adulthood during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- History of Suicidality and Pandemic Outcomes: Longitudinal Associations with Anxiety Symptoms, Depressive Symptoms, and Problematic Drinking.Psychiatric research and clinical practice · 2024Article
- The implications of growth mindset for depression, well-being, and adjustment over 2 years during the COVID-19 pandemic.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- Heterogeneity in the trajectories of psychological distress among late adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.JCPP advances · 2023Article
- Depression and stress levels in patients with different psychiatric disorders during concurrent early-phase COVID-19 pandemic and earthquake in Croatia.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Psychological Reactions during and after a Lockdown: Self-Efficacy as a Protective Factor of Mental Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Young people's mental and social distress in times of international crisis: evidence from helpline calls, 2019-2022.Scientific reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This article reports on the first meta-analysis of studies on the association between government-imposed social restrictions and mental health outcomes published during the initial year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-three studies (N = 131,844) were included. Social restrictions were significantly associated with increased mental health symptoms overall (d = .41 [CI 95% .17-.65]), including depression (d = .83 [CI 95% .30-1.37]), stress (d = .21 [CI 95% .01-.42]) and loneliness (d = .30 [CI 95% .07-.52]), but not anxiety (d= .26 [CI 95% -.04-.56]). Subgroup analyses demonstrated that the strictness and length of restrictions had divergent effects on mental health outcomes, but there are concerns regarding study quality. The findings provide critical insights for future research on the effects of COVID-19 social restrictions.
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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.