ArticleBMC psychiatry2023
Pre-pandemic mental health and coping strategy usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of the Southern Cities Study.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- COVID-19-related stress and positive coping strategies among young adults in Canada and France: A latent class analysis.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about the usage of coping strategies recommended by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether coping strategy usage varies by pre-pandemic mental health. This study examined the prevalence of different coping strategies and associations of their usage with pre-pandemic mental health.
methodsData were collected from adults residing in metropolitan areas of the U.S. South in May/June 2020 using random-digit-dialing and web-based surveys (n = 1,644). We estimated the prevalence of each coping strategy: (1) keeping up-to-date about COVID-19; (2) taking breaks from the news or social media; (3) taking care of physical health; (4) engaging in relaxing activities; (5) reaching out to and spending time with others; and (6) trying to find comfort in religious or spiritual beliefs. We examined the association between the use of each strategy and pre-pandemic mental health using modified Poisson regression, adjusting for covariates. We also analyzed the association between pre-pandemic mental health and the number of coping strategies employed using ordered logistic regression.
resultsThe most prevalent strategies were: "keeping up-to-date about COVID-19" (53%), "taking care of physical health" (52%), and "reaching out to and spending time with others" (52%). Good pre-pandemic mental health was associated with an increased prevalence of "reaching out to and spending time with others" (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-1.91). The use of other coping strategies and the number of coping strategies used during the pandemic did not vary by pre-pandemic mental health.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that people who had good pre-pandemic mental health were more likely to connect with other people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the well-documented impact of social support on mental health in disaster contexts, efforts to promote safe social connections for those with pre-existing mental health concerns are needed.
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